OTTAWA – Off the heels of the 2023 Canadian Team Trials, Dec. 15-17, in Edmonton, Canadian wrestlers are set for the Pan-American (Pan-Am) Senior Championships and Pan-Am Olympic Qualifiers that will be held just a week apart, February 21 – 24 and February 28 – March 1, in Acapulco, Mexico. The Championships will take place during the first week, before the Qualifiers during the second.

Canada will send a team of 24 athletes to the Championships in women’s wrestling, freestyle and Greco-Roman. Of those 24, seven athletes will pull double duty, including the entire Greco-Roman team, staying for the second week and the Olympic Qualifiers. At the Olympic Qualifiers, Canada is sending a team of 17, six in women’s wrestling, six in freestyle and five in Greco-Roman. Those who are competing at the Qualifiers earned the right to represent Canada by winning their weight class the Trials.

“The next two weeks are a culmination of the past three to eight years of work for some of our athletes as they strive to earn Olympic berths,” said Chris Woodcroft, WCL High Performance Director. “We are into the final athlete preparations and each coach is ensuring their athletes will be in top form to compete against the best the Pan-Am region has to offer.  The Pan-Am region has improved each quadrennial, and our athletes will need to be in top form to challenge for the right to represent Canada in Paris.”

At the qualifiers, a top two finish for the wrestlers punches their ticket to Paris for the 2024 Olympics, Aug. 5-11. Meanwhile, the Championships are a key stage in the lead up to the Qualifiers, as they provide an opportunity to improve seeding, for athletes competing in both, and experience for those just competing at the Championships.

Aside from the Greco-Roman competitors, the others pulling double duty include Summerside, P.E.I.’s Hannah Taylor and Coquitlam, B.C.’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez. Taylor is coming off a strong close to 2023 and beginning of 2024. She captured a silver medal at the 2023 Pan-Am Games in Santiago, Chile and then took silver at the French Grand Prix, in Nice, France in January.

As for Godinez Gonzalez, the 2021 U23 World Champion, she will look to defend her Senior Pan-Am Gold medals from 2022 and 2023 at this year’s Championships, while strengthening her position for the Qualifiers.

At the Qualifiers there will be a few notable athletes to watch. On the men’s side, Surrey, B.C.’s Amar Dhesi will look to qualify for his second Olympics. Dhesi competed in Tokyo in 2021 at 125kg finishing 13^th.  Since his first Olympics, Dhesi has added Pan-Am Championships and Commonwealth Games gold medals to his resume and will look to return to the Olympics and improve on 2021.

On the women’s side another athlete to watch will be Burnaby, B.C.’s Justina Di Stasio. Di Stasio has won everything there is to win in wrestling: World Championship gold, Pan-Am Games gold, Commonwealth Games gold and Pan-Am Championships gold, but the one thing that has eluded her has been competing at the Olympics. Now, she is just a few wins away from achieving her dream of going to the Olympics, something she can do with a strong performance in Acapulco.

Pan-Am Championships Team

Pan-Am Olympic Qualifiers Team

Accompanying the teams are the coaching staff and team officials. The group includes coaches David Zilberman, Dave McKay, Marty Calder, Dave Spinney, Tony Ramos, Chris Schrauwen, Raj Virdi and Logan Stieber; team leader Chris Woodcroft; and medicals Max Hanna and Surinder Budwal. Marcia Chiasson, Demetra Kousopodiotis, Ed Zinger and Curtis Leung will represent Canada as officials.

For complete tournament information, visit the tournament websites Pan-Am Championships: https://uww.org/event/seniors-pan-american-championships/results, Pan-Am Qualifiers: https://uww.org/event/seniors-pan-american-og-qualifier/results.