Di Bacco fitter, faster and stronger
Gaining high-calibre international experience is crucial for any wrestler dreaming of representing Canada at the Olympics.
And while Olivia Di Bacco described her first visit to the senior world championships in 2017 as “not good,” the Brock Wrestling Club member feels it can only help her at this weekend’s event in Budapest, Hungary.
“I think it was really important,” the 26-year-old said. “My coaches have all commented to me that I see more relaxed throughout this prep (preparation).”
Di Bacco begs to differ.
“I feel more anxious to be honest,” she said. “I feel more edgy and tense than I was last year but they are really happy with the way I am wrestling.
“When I get there, I am hoping it feels a little bit more familiar.”
Physically and technically, she is ready to rumble.
“I’m fitter, I’m faster. I’m stronger, I have more tools in my tool box offensively and defensively and we are hoping that it’s all going to come together at the right time,” she said. “We have worked on a lot of things and I am better.”
She’s hoping the improvements she has made will lead to better results in the 68-kilogram division
“I look at everybody in that weight class and 68 kilograms in kind of a fun weight class,” she said. “There’s so many good girls, but there are no really, really big standouts.”
She feels she is competitive with anybody in the weight class.
“I want to win some matches and surprise some people,” she said. “And I want to compete with freedom and not feel like I’m not at my best.”
It’s a feeling the Orillia native has had a few times in 2018.
“I had some disappointing tournaments this year where I have come home and I wasn’t really able to show how much I have improved or show all the areas that I have made strides in,” she said. “It would be a big victory to come back from the worlds and feel as if I was able to display the areas that I have improved in.”
So far in 2018, she is most proud of: helping Canada to a fifth-place finish at the Japan World Cup team event in March; and, winning a silver medal at the International Ukrainian Tournament and beating the Rio Olympics bronze medalist and upsetting some other top-ranked wrestlers in the process.
“Olivia is starting to head into the expectation kind of scenarios,” Brock Wrestling Club head coach Mary Calder said. “Last year, she got some valuable experience and now she is competing against some of the other better girls.”
Di Bacco recorded a win this year against a Ukrainian wrestler who is ranked No. 1 in the world.
“She had definitely shown the ability to compete at this level,” Calder said.
