Akuffo headed to the Olympics

Makes up for missing out on 2004 Games

July 4, 2008

By Frank Juzenas

Ohenewa Akuffo is going to the Olympics.

The former star wrestler from St. Augustine Secondary School has earned a trip to Beijing in August after she finished second at the Pan Am Championships in Colorado Springs. The top country from that meet, which had not previously qualified for the Olympics, earned a spot at the Games. Canada received that after Akuffo reached the final in the 72 kilograms division against Stephany Lee from the U.S. as the U.S. had already qualified a spot at the Games.

At the Canadian Olympic trials in December, Akuffo assured herself of being the Canadian representative in that weight class by winning the national title.

"For an amateur athlete the Olympics is the biggest show and now I have my ticket,'' said the 29-year-old who now lives and trains in Guelph.

While not qualifying at Colorado would not have been disastrous, as there were still two more international meets where athletes could have qualified, earning her trip early gave her advantages. She and her coach Dave Mair, who is also one of the Canadian Olympic team coaches, set up a competition and training schedule to prepare her for Beijing, giving her the proper mix of competition and rest, rather than worry about the qualifying meets.

Akuffo took up the sport at age 17 and became the youngest Canadian national senior champion ever when she was 18. But there have been some setbacks along the way.

That included four years ago when Akuffo missed qualifying for the Athens Olympics, when women's wrestling was contested for the first time. She finished second in Canada and had to settle for being an alternate. But she said she has learned a lot since then

"In retrospect I'm a better wrestler than I was four years ago," she said.

She also missed qualifying at last year's world championship in Baku, Azerbaijan, when she was pinned during her first match. She had finished fifth at the previous worlds and needed a top eight finish at the worlds to qualify Canada in her weight class.

At the Pan Ams there were four competitors in the 72 kilograms division. Akuffo decisioned Jaresmit Weffer of Venezuela 4-1, 2-0 then topped Rosangela Conceicao from Brazil 3-0, 1-0.

In the final she said she made a mistake and it cost her as Lee pinned her at 1:56.

Akuffo said she knows many of the wrestlers who will be in her division at the Olympics, having wrestled them over the years and she expects it will be a tough competition, with anyone among the top 10 capable of winning. She also feels she has a good chance at finishing in the medals but won't set a specific goal.

"I won't put a number on it. I just want to wrestle my best," she said.

Besides her training and competition she works part-time at a Home Depot in Cambridge, but that income and her funding from the Canadian Olympic Committee don't come close to covering her expenses. She is also selling a poster and T-shirts which are available on her website ohenewa.com.