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Tayla Ford is set to become New Zealand’s first ever female Olympic wrestler when she steps onto the mat at Paris 2024.
Ford grew up in Christchurch, where she started wrestling with her Dad after watching the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
“Preparation is going amazing,” said Ford.
“I’ve just completed five weeks of competing and am now in Japan for another two weeks of training before heading to Paris.”
Ford moved from New Zealand to Australia early in her career to further her wrestling and says she hopes to inspire more people from Oceania to compete in the sport.
“It’s such a minority sport in this part of the world so I’m really keen to encourage more people and especially more women to do wrestling.”
“I initially came to Adelaide for coaching and the repour I’ve built here with gyms and sports has been amazing and there’s so many people who help me train which is great. I knew I had the potential to make it to the Olympic Games so I always had that belief.”
And, with Ford a proud owner of four cats, one of her first thoughts on making the Olympics was finding a catsitter to look after her pets while she's away...
“One of my favourite training partners from the wrestling club will be house sitting and looking after the four fur babies!”
The women’s wrestling competition at Paris 2024 begins on August 5th.