Calgary’s newest ‘golden girl’ returns home

It was all smiles as Olympic wrestler and gold medallist Erica Wiebe walked through the security doors at Calgary International Airport and was greeted by throngs of her family, friends and fans.

Wiebe returned home after a visit with family in Ontario following her winning gold in the 75 kilogram division in Rio.

“It’s so surreal to come down here and see all my friends and family here greeting me, it’s so special,” she said. “When my wrestling coach Mitch Ostberg at the University of Calgary was like ‘what time is your flight?’ and he posted it on our wrestling Facebook group and I was like ‘that’s weird.’ I knew my friends and family would be here to greet me but this kind of reception is awesome.”

Wiebe says she stepped on the mats on August 18th already feeling like a champion following the preparation she put into the competition.

“And so to have that culminate in an Olympic gold, I felt like a champion before this happened so the process that went into it that was truly that gold medal effort and so to have it all pay off though, sport is cruel and I just feel so honoured to have that one day be my day.”

She’s been trying to rehash the story since she won the medal and understand what was going through her mind on that particular day.

“I have never felt so ready and in the moment,” she said. “I’ve never had so much fun before competing.”

She added the process may have changed her but who she was going into the competition is who she still is today.

“Our team was so strong going into the Olympic games and we had a disappointing performance and I’ve been there,” Wiebe said she shares this with the rest of her team and vowed they will come back stronger than ever in 2020.

And there is no rest for the sore and tired, Wiebe followed friends and family to a pub in northwest Calgary to celebrate that big win.

“I really want to share this medal with them because wrestling is not easy and you need someone else to train and so what people have put into my preparations in these last nine years being in Calgary, I really want to share that with every single person who has a small or large part in that process.”

Her friends and family came out decked in Canadian flags, signs and t-shirts that had her trademark hashtag #BEWIEBE.

Charlene Pisko’s niece wrestled with Erica and she had family members travel to Rio to cheer her on.

“She’s just worked so hard for this and I wasn’t able to go to Rio so I wanted to be here to see her in,” she said.

Pisko says she was at work during the ‘gold medal match’ and had to stream it later and felt she was in control the entire time.

“Erica is a huge advocate for women in sports and she’s just so humble and grounded and has got the wrestling but other stuff. I think it’s just cool to see her, to know her so well and see what she’s done and know how important it is to others.”

Friends Taylor Felt and Charlie Rooney came with floors and in “Erica Wiebe t-shirts” to show her support.

“We know how hard she’s worked for this and really proud to be here to welcome her home,” said Felt.

“It was awesome to watch her in Rio,” said Rooney.

Barb Ellsworth, Jan Leach and Karen Galan came dressed in red and white, they carried signs and even a cowbell.

“I was blessed to be there in Rio so this is huge, this is part of the experience,” said Galan. “The smile hasn’t stopped since last week.”

“It’s hard to put into words, she’s such a close friend and we’ve known her for so many years, we’ve gone to her matches and cheered her on through the good and bad times but she’s always had a smile on her face,” said Leach. “I was so excited for her, I was without words and was like ‘OH MY GOD, she’s won gold.”

“We knew before she even left that she would take gold, if you saw the determination in her face,” said Ellsworth. “You looked at her and you were so confident, I just knew, we were very confident that she was going to do it this time.”

Wiebe carries on a long and proud tradition of Calgary based women wrestlers including Christine Nordhagen and Carol Huynh.

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