Ford grapples her way into Olympic history
Tayla Ford will become the first New Zealand woman to wrestle at the Olympics, having been picked for the Games in Paris later this year.
Having been involved in wrestling for more than 20 years, Ford (Tainui), who has competed at three Commonwealth Games, winning bronze at both Glasgow 2014 and Birmingham 2022, said it had always been a goal to qualify for the Olympics.
“It’s a dream come true and it still feels pretty surreal at the moment,” Ford, 30, said.
“I’ve always wanted to make the Olympics, and to become the first female wrestler from New Zealand to do so is pretty special.
“Back in Glasgow, I made history as the first New Zealand woman to win a Commonwealth Games medal in wrestling. It’s always been a goal of mine to make history, it’s part of what motivates me, so it’s pretty amazing.”
Ford secured qualification for Paris last month, winning her pool in the Under68kg division at the Africa/Oceania qualifier in Egypt.
She began wrestling when her father learned that women’s wrestling had been added to the sport programme at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
“He wrestled in high school so he got back into it and I joined him,’’ Ford said.
“We had a mat in the garage where we’d train and we had a video tape of wrestling at the Sydney Olympics which we’d just play constantly while we were training,” she said.
The Nelson-born, Christchurch-raised, athlete is now based in Adelaide, where she coaches up-and-coming wrestlers.
The Olympic wrestling programme will be held from August 5-11 at the Champ-deMars Arena in Central Paris.*