07.27.2004:German Government Proud of Female Olympic Wrestlers

From The Goethe-Institut(full article here),  the Federal Republic of Germany's cultural institution which is operational worldwide, an excerpt from its profile of olympic wrestler Stephanie Groß:

Olympic Premiere for Women Wrestlers 

As a little girl, Stephanie Groß wanted to learn a martial art. She started off with judo "because there was no wrestling for girls in those days". But this year, women are allowed to wrestle in the Olympic Games for the first time. Stephanie Groß from Ückerath near Cologne, Brigitte Wagner from Hallbergmoos and Anita Schätzle from Mainz-Laubenheim will be representing Germany on the mat in Athens -- and they have "good medal prospects" reckons Helmuth Pauli, the president of the German Wrestling Federation (Deutscher Ringerbund DRB).

 

and from the same article, hope for German's female wrestling olympic team:

 

"We have entered three top female athletes", says Pauli. He's absolutely sure that 20 year-old Brigitte Wagner from Hallbergmoos near Munich, who will compete in the under-48 kg freestyle wrestling weight class, will win a medal. Admittedly 29 year-old Stephanie Groß will "not find it quite so easy to be placed in the first three" in the 63 kg weight class. But the president of the association thinks that Anita Schätzle, a soldier in the Federal Armed Forces, has very good chances of winning a medal in the weight class for wrestlers up to 72 kg.