fciwomenswrestling.com article, CBC photo credit
It’s a bird.
It’s a plane.
It’s a Frisbee?
No, it’s Braxton Stone-Papadopoulos kicking and sending her Taekwondo opponent soaring across the room like a flying saucer, the likes not seen since the 1953 film version of War Of The Worlds.
It’s a good thing that kicking is not allowed in Women’s Freestyle Wrestling competitions.
That footage was years ago when Braxton was an early teen but you sure can feel the magnitude of her power and charisma at her video interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkURYBEr6GQ
Braxton Stone-Papadopoulos (born June 23, 1995) is a Canadian wrestler.
She won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She has been in competition with fellow world champion teammate Justine Bouchard. She has been ranked number 2 in the world.
She sure has made our great northern neighbor Canada very proud.
At their global site Olympic.ca they proudly share, “Braxton Stone-Papadopoulos has enjoyed international success at all levels, beginning when she won bronze at the 2012 Cadet World Championships. A year later she was a silver medalist at the Junior World Championships. That came on the heels of her first senior national title at age 17 when she was named Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Canadian championships.
She went on to win bronze at the 2013 Pan American Championships and also made her debut at the Senior World Championships. After winning another national title in 2014, she competed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she captured a bronze medal. Among Stone-Papadopoulos’ other accomplishments are a silver medal at the Dave Schultz Memorial in 2014 to go with bronze medals in 2013 and 2015.”
As you saw the seismic jolt of her power in the early video, Braxton initially earned a black belt in taekwondo by age 10.
She started wrestling at age 10 and was first coached by her uncle Stan Tzogas who had coached at the Olympic level.
Following the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Braxton made the decision to move up a weight class to 63-kg after she experienced difficulty reaching the 58-kg weight limit.
At the 2015 2015 Pan American Games she won the gold medal in 63kg category, defeating Katerina Vidiaux of Cuba 7-3.
In September 2015 Stone-Papadopoulos qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after placing fifth in the 63kg category at the senior world championships.
At the informative site wrestling.ca, they share her fantastic accomplishments.
| Year: | Event: | Result: | Style: | Weight: |
| 2015 | Dave Schultz Memorial | 3rd place | FW | 63kg |
| 2014 | Commonwealth Games | 3rd place | FW | 58kg |
| 2014 | Klippan Lady Open | 3rd place | FW | 58kg |
| 2014 | Dave Schultz International | 2nd place | FW | 58kg |
| 2014 | Junior World Championships | 5th place | FW | 59kg |
| 2014 | Brazil Cup | 3rd place | FW | 63kg |
Those are incredible top finishes.
Braxton has also competed in hurdles for her high school with stellar results.
Why don’t we visit her supportive community?
Scarborough is a district and former municipality within the eastern part of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Scarborough is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River and the City of Pickering.
Over 200 years, Scarborough grew from a collection of small rural villages to become a large city with a diverse cultural community. It was named after the English town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1796 by Elizabeth Simcoe, who was inspired by the Scarborough Bluffs which reminded her of white cliffs near her home.
Scarborough rapidly developed as a suburb of Old Toronto during the Metro Toronto years and became a city in 1983. Scarborough was amalgamated into the city of Toronto in 1998. The area is an administrative district in the new City of Toronto, and has its own community council composed of Toronto city councillors. The Scarborough Civic Centre, the former city hall, is still used by the municipal government of Toronto.
Scarborough is a popular destination for new immigrants to Canada to reside. As a result, Scarborough is one of the most diverse and multicultural areas of the Greater Toronto Area, being home to various religious groups and places of worship.
Here are the Bluffs from which Scarborough’s name is inspired.
Braxton always sets very high goals for herself. She explains what is consistent in all of those goals in an interview at toughcompetitionmagazine.wordpress.com, “My goal is definitely to get on that podium. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that I can definitely make it on to that podium.”
Since she has consistently placed at the highest levels, in terms of her goals?
Mission accomplished.
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The global female sports community opens us up to all kinds of global experiences. Let’s traverse a little ways away from Braxton Hometown and explore Toronto.
We have a visiting writer with some wonderful ideas in Toronto exploration.
By Mike Niklaus
Toronto Shopping – 3 Popular Shopping Destinations
If you’ve ever been to Toronto you’ll know that the city is a huge multicultural mix with great shopping opportunities throughout. Toronto is one of those cities where you can spend days just shopping, and with great reason, it is Canada’s biggest city and the shopping center of Ontario. My experience with Toronto was that it is definitely a great place for shopping, you can go store-to-store with amazing boutiques and great deals on downtown streets, but you also need a plan of action or you’ll be exhausted. I have outlined 3 of the places I had the best experiences of shopping in Toronto.
- First, it wouldn’t be shopping in Toronto if you didn’t visit the Toronto Eaton Centre. The Eaton Centre is a huge shopping mall with absolutely amazing deals on designer clothes, great food, electronics and everything else you need. It is also, believe it or not, Toronto’s top tourist attraction with over 1 million visitors every week! You can get here through the Dundas or Queen Subway stations and it is a shopping trip you will absolutely love. It is a very busy mall right in downtown Toronto, but you will find so many great deals it’s hard to resist coming here. It also forms part of the Toronto PATH underground network, which is great fun for tourists and locals alike. I bought some great clothes at amazing deals from stores here.
- Next, when Toronto shopping, make sure to visit Chinatown on Spadina. Chinatown is a testament to Toronto’s unique multiculturalism, where you feel like you’ve stepped into another country from one block to another. In Chinatown you can experience great stores with fantastic Chinese culture, taste delicious Chinese recipes, and of course buy lots of neat things at great bargain prices. In Toronto’s Chinatown you can shop for clothes, paintings, lamps, antiques, jewelry and much more. I would go just to experience the food because the food I ate there is simply delicious! Definitely a unique place in Toronto and highly recommended.
- Thirdly, Toronto shopping wouldn’t feel right until you visit the popular Kensington Market. This is the place to buy cheap stuff at great bargains and sales. You can find clothes, suits, decorations, great food, furniture, souvenirs and more great savings in this extremely popular shopping region. It really feels like a Toronto market experience and I enjoyed simply walking through and browsing the great variety of things on display, the rich culture and the essence of a wonderful Toronto shopping district. This place is a wonderful experience.
Most importantly, before you go shopping in Toronto, make sure to visit this Toronto Shopping [http://www.torontoshopping.org] link or visit the www.TorontoShopping.org [http://www.torontoshopping.org] website and check out the amazing shopping directory to see which stores are most popular now and where to shop for the best deals in Toronto!
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OPENING PHOTO – fciwomenswrestling.com article, CBC photo credit
Sources: Thank you Wikipedia
https://wrestling.ca/athlete/braxton-papadopoulos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkURYBEr6GQ
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/promising-canadian-wrestler-ready-to-adjust-her-olympic-sights-1.1410614
http://olympic.ca/team-canada/braxton-stone-papadopoulos/
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/canada/toronto/attractions/scarborough-bluffs/a/poi-sig/393299/361412
http://ezinearticles.com/?Toronto-Shopping—3-Popular-Shopping-Destinations&id=6965786
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mike_Niklaus/783412
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6965786
