A Tribute to Tonya
							1st Olympic Wrestling Silver Medalist  WOW!! 1st Olympic Wrestling Silver Medalist from Canada    WOW    WOW!!! 1st Olympic Wrestling Silver Medalist from Beamsville  WOW  WOW  WOW !!!!!!
			On Monday, August 23, 2004, Beamsville, as well as the rest of Niagara, came to a halt, as all eyes were glued to the TV sets.  What were they watching?  Tonya Verbeek, wrestle her way to an Olympic Silver Medal, in Athens, Greece, and her place in history. Tonya was wrestling in the Gold Match of Womens 55kg Freestyle, against Japan's Saori Yoshida.  A tough match and a competor Tonya was unable to pin.  Tonya earned her way to this match, by defeating Swedish wrestler, Ida-Theres Karlson 3-1. Tonya began her wrestling career in the halls of Beamsville District Secondary School, under coach Dave Collie.  After a month of practicing, Tonya was into competition.  She remained undefeated throughout her high school career. In 1995, she was Canadian champion and finished 5th in the world championships.  She earned 5 medals at the Canadian championships, and silver and gold medals at the Pan Am games. She earned bronze in the Olympic qualifying tournament #2, bronze at Athens pre-olympic test event, Gold at the Austrian Ladies Open, and Gold at the 2004 Canada Cup of wrestling just prior to her trip to the Olympics. CONGRATULATIONS, TONYA, the Community is extremely Proud of you. You are "Golden" to us.
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