Super Heavy Purple Belt World Champion Shantelle Thompson has her eyes set on competing in wrestling. After winning Worlds for the 2nd time she said:

“I didn’t think it could happen a second time. I am now the Super Heavy Purple Belt World Champion. There are so many people to thank who have supported me on this journey.”

She’s also declared she wants to turn her attention to wrestling which she started training professionally 6 months ago.

“Wrestlers are some of the best athletes in the world — they’ve got the skills of a gymnast, the physical strength of a power-lifter and yet they can apply that to another person, with control, speed, agility and beauty”

Shantelle Thompson further stated that she believes there are far more professional opportunities for women in the sport of wrestling, especially given Olympic presence.

In the same interview she declared she believes her game is very top heavy so a transition into wrestling shouldn’t be too hard. Her aim is directed doward the 2020 Olympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

She is a firm advocate for wrestling as a means of self defense but also as a good cross-training sport:

“We have really low numbers in comparison to jiu-jitsu, so if I can help build the profile as a good cross-training sport or as a sport for its own sake, then that’s a win,”

Thompson is the only woman in Australia to professionally train and compete in her category of 75 kilograms. She said there were 10 or fewer women who actively trained professionally for wrestling in Australia. This is especially surprising given how spacious Australia is.

In the end, Thompson, known as  “Barkindji Warrior”, told ABC Local Radio that her Indigenous heritage contributed to who she was as a person.

“I don’t see myself as a fighter, I see myself as a martial artist and being a warrior — the difference is I’m not looking at the end result. It’s nice to win world titles and medals, but I’m looking to grow every day,”

The first recognized World Championships in women’s freestyle wrestling was held in 1987 in Lorenskog, Norway. The United States did not enter a team, it featured some European nations and Japan. In 1989, the international wrestling federation FILA added the women’s division alongside the men at the World Wrestling Championships in Martigny, Switzerland, which brought major attention to the event. The women’s division in Olympic Wrestling was introduced in 2004. As is, Women’s wrestling is a relatively young sport.