Anthony presses forward in preparation for the 2017 World Team Trials

2016 U.S. Olympic Trials runner-up and two-time Junior World Champion Victoria Anthony is on the rise aiming for the top this year after disappointment at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

In April, Anthony reached the finals the U.S. Olympic Trials in Iowa City, Iowa, needing two wins to make the Olympic Team at 48 kg. She won a match, but Haley Augello won two, and it was Augello who earned the team berth for the Rio Games.

“It was devastating and nothing I ever dreamed of happening. My dream was to make the 2016 World Team and win an Olympic gold medal,” she said.

Her loss to Augello helped her to catapult her training into a positive direction. 

“I think after Trials I figured a lot of things out mentally and wrestling wise. I found where the big holes in my wrestling are and where. It sucks when the holes in your wrestling are exposed on the biggest stage and the place that you want to win the most.  But when they are displayed on that stage, it becomes that much more apparent that those are the things you really need to focus on and fix,” she said.

Recently, Anthony moved from her hometown in Huntington Beach, Calif. to Tempe, Ariz. for a new training situation. She is putting time in on the mat with both Sunkist Kids and at Fight Ready with Angel Cejudo, brother of 2008 Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo.  

“The training has been awesome. I’m so happy to have found the training situation and be welcomed into the ASU wrestling family and with the team at Fight Ready. It’s exactly what I need personal, technically, and mentally,” she said.

She has been able to continue to press into her goals and expand her training. As she moves in 2017, Anthony keeps her eyes on making it to the 2017 World Championships in Paris, August 21-26.

“Reflecting on what my mission still is and what my goals still are, and now it has gotten shifted. My goal was the 2016 Olympics but now it’s just shifted to the 2017 World Championships,” she said.

Anthony recently traveled overseas to compete in the Outstanding Wrestlers and Coaches Ukrainian Memorial International. She wrestled through three tough rounds to win the gold.

“It matters how you go into the tournament and how you’re different from the competition that will display itself in your results. I don’t think that the Ukrainian Memorial itself was different than other tournaments, but I think that I was a different wrestler. I felt I could open up more and there was a lot that I am able to look back on and correct in preparation for the World Team Trials,” she said.

When she was young, before Anthony made her break in wrestling, she was involved in Judo. She invested eight years into Judo before she suffered from an injury, which forced her to give it up. Judo held great value to Anthony as she transitioned into wrestling.

“My feel for wrestling is based a lot in Judo. I’m still figuring out that some things from Judo don’t work as well in wrestling and somethings are really useful only in certain situations and I’ve had to limit myself to those situations. A lot of the technique is similar and amble to modify it and use it in my wrestling,” she said.

Anthony first showed an interest in wrestling in efforts to get out of P.E. class and after her parents suggested she gave the sport a try. With the similarities that judo and wrestling hold, Anthony was quickly convinced and soon joined her high school wrestling team.  

Just as many other female wrestlers, Anthony competed on her high school’s boys wrestling team. She faced struggles in getting out of her awkward phase and becoming comfortable being a girl on her high school team.

“Took me a long time to even walk into the wrestling room. I was already socially awkward and I thought it was just going to make things weirder,” she said.

Joining and being a part of her high school team was something that she never felt completely comfortable with through her years in high school but in the end, it has helped her to become a better wrestler and possess a more positive mindset in uncomfortable situations.

“The initial hump of joining a boys wrestling team has been one of the biggest I’ve faced in my career. I don’t think I was ever really felt comfortable those four years that I was on the team, even though after the first year I was accepted as one of the ‘guys’ on the team. I personally always just felt a little uncomfortable. I think that is what pushes you to become a better wrestler and a better person is feeling the discomfort but still showing up every day,” she said.

The uncomfortableness that she pressed through in high school helped to create her to become a strong female wrestler today. In times of losses this past year Anthony had opportunity to face her struggles with less positivity, but she didn’t let the losses or the hard times bring her down, instead she uses them as she moves forward in her training.

“I have to keep pressing forward and putting myself in uncomfortable situations. Keep exploring head-on the things I don’t want to,” she said.

Anthony continues to prepare for the upcoming U.S. World Team Trials in Las Vegas, April 28. She moves into the final training knowing that the day is coming to try out for the World Team. She continues to keep focus on her training and not too much on the day of competition.

“I am getting on my conditioning and my strength training and continuing the path I’ve already begun. I’m looking to improve daily and not looking at it in a big chunk. Everyday I’m focusing on practice and what I should be taking away from them. I’m aware the Trials are approaching but day in and day out I need to stay focused on the improvements I need to make and continue to make those adjustments,” she said.