Canada’s Olympic champion wrestler Erica Wiebe eyes return

Olympic champion wrestler Erica Wiebe feels it’s time to get back on the competition mat.

She and teammate Amar Dhesi of Surrey, B.C., intend to represent Canada at a December World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, unless the COVID-19 virus derails those plans.

It’s been almost nine months since the two Canadians competed in the Pan American Olympic qualification tournament in Ottawa.

Wrestling in front of zero fans in mid-March, they punched their tickets to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Less than two weeks later, the Summer Olympics were postponed until 2021.

Wiebe is ready to navigate the pandemic pitfalls and complications of international travel to reboot her competitive journey to Tokyo.

“It’s been really crazy because in my 10 years on the Canadian national team, I’ve never not competed for this long,” said the 31-year-old from Stittsville, Ont.

“I’m wrestling and training better than I ever have. I’ve just taken so much time to develop, to really dig into some technical and tactical skills. The training volumes are so different compared to when we’re traveling to Europe every month.

“When I think about competing in Serbia in three weeks, it’s really exciting to just see where I’m at, to experience a competitive environment and go through that process.”

The reigning Olympic champion in the 75-kilogram class trains in Calgary.

Dhesi, a 25-year-old who wrestles in the men’s heavyweight division, is currently training at the University of Ohio.

“All this training doesn’t actually prepare for the real thing on the mat,” Dhesi told The Canadian Press from Columbus.