By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
Is 27 years old … old?
For most young people that age, they are just beginning their careers. Kristie Marano, who reached that number of living years last January, may be nearing the end of hers … or is she simply starting again?
“It depends,” said Marano, who is considered one of the most decorated women’s wrestler in history with seven world medals — two gold (2000 and 2003), four silver (1996-99) and a bronze (2002) — and will be competing in her eighth World Championship this month in China. “There are days when my body feels old. I don’t really feel old until I get to nationals and some girl tells me she’s just 16 years old. Only then do I start thinking that I’ve been doing this for a while.”
Oddly, that’s about the same age Marano was when she qualified for her first World meet in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1996, when she was a high school junior and finished second to China’s Dong Feng Liu at 175 pounds.
“Being new to wrestling, it was definitely scary, but it was really exciting too,” said Marano, who was introduced to the sport by her father, Conrad Stenglein, after also excelling in judo. “I felt disappointment in the finals. I guess I expected to win.”
After three more years of finishing second in the world, Marano finally tasted gold at the 2000 World Championships in Sofia at 149 pounds before sandwiching a 2002 bronze medal with her second gold medal at the 2003 World Championships at 147.5 pounds in New York City.
Marano calls that moment her finest and happiest in wrestling.
“My entire family was there,” said Marano, who grew up in Albany, N.Y., where she followed in the footsteps of her older brothers, Matt and Joshua, and competed as a member of the Colonie Central High School boy’s team. “My grandfather not only got to see me win the world championship but wrestle against girls for the first time.”
And just when it looked like she might make the United States’ first women’s Olympic wrestling team in 2004 — after winning her sixth U.S. Nationals championship — she failed to make weight at 138.75 pounds at the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis; forcing her to tryout at 158.5 pounds, where she finished second. Marano was forced to try make the cut to 138.75 because there were only four Olympic weights.
“I had made that weight the previous two or three years,” said Marano, adding that she did not feel that fate cheated her out of competing on the first women’s Olympic team. “It could have been my body rebelling. I gave it everything I had to make weight.”
One year later, Marano was still on the sidelines as the women’s team competed at the 2005 Worlds in Budapest after her former rival Katie Downing defeated Marano at the World Team Trials at 147.5 pounds
That changed this year, when she moved up to 158.5 pounds and earned a trip to Guangzhou, China.
After a decade, did she feel more happiness or heartbreak?
“I’ve had my share of both,” she said. “But all the setbacks are something I learned from and all the stuff that I’ve done brings me happiness.
“I still don’t accept losing but I was really hard on myself in those first years. But it made me realize that you can’t control the outcome. I still have the same outlook and I’m still pretty hard on myself. But I was more hard on myself then than I am now.”