Carol Huynh
Hazelton British Columbia 55° 15' 19.32" N, 127° 40' 15.18" W Sports and Athletics Olympic Athlete Sports Wrestler Person
Carol Huynh (pron.: /ˈwɪn/; born 16 November 1980) is a Canadian freestyle wrestler. Huynh was the first gold medalist for Canada in women's wrestling and was the first gold medalist for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She is also the current reigning Commonwealth Games and two time Pan American Games champion. Success was also achieved at the world championships where Huynh has totaled one silver and three bronze medals. Huynh is also an eleven time national champion.
Career[edit]
Huynh broke onto the international scene as a wrestler beginning at the World Championships in 2000 where she won bronze. She continued to build on this success at the next World Championships in 2001 where she won silver. She would have to wait four more years till she would medal again at the Worlds when she won a bronze again in 2005. Success never dropped off though, Huynh would win the title in her 48 kg weight class at the 2007 Pan American Games. She competed in the 48 kg weight class at the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal. This broke Canada's gold medal drought at the 2008 Games. She is the second ever female medalist for Canada in Olympic wrestling, after Tonya Verbeek, the 2004 Athens freestyle silver medalist. Huynh was the first gold medalist in women's wrestling for Canada. Following the Olympic games she continued to perform at a top level, winning bronze at the 2010 World Championships. That same year she won the Commonwealth Games title. Huynh then won the 2011 Canadian title again for 48 kg and then successfully defended her Pan Am Games title in Guadalajara. She has been named to the 2012 Summer Olympics team in London for Canada. There she won a second Olympic medal, this time a bronze in the 48 kg class.
In a controversial decision, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) [1] in February 2013, has recommended wrestling be dropped for the 2020 Olympic games. This recommendation was met with protest from a number of former and current athletes with Carol being one of the voices from a Canadian perspective. [2]
Personal[edit]
Huynh was born in British Columbia to parents who were ethnic Chinese refugees from northern Vietnam. Her father was born in China, but moved to Vietnam when he was three; her mother was born in Vietnam. They settled in the town of New Hazelton, British Columbia, after being sponsored by the local United Church. Coming from a wrestling family, where both of her sisters wrestled, she started wrestling at 15. She started studies at Simon Fraser University in 1998, then moved to the University of Calgary in 2007. Huynh married Dan Biggs, a social worker and former wrestler, in 2005. She is coached by Paul Ragusa, former National team member and Olympian, as well as Leigh Vierling, husband of former World Champion Christine Nordhagen.