Scottish Wrestling Bond

The Scottish Wrestler

of the Century 9

Female Wrestling
	Female wrestling has not yet developed to the stage where records can be compared but Michelle Carrol of the Glasgow Wrestling Club startled quite a few people at the famous Bridge of Allan Games Highland Games in 2000. After winning the Women's Open event she entered the 9st 7lbs (60.3 kgs) class and threw some tough young men to win it.
Still not satisfied Michelle entered the 11st 7lbs (73 kgs) class and taking full advantage of the absence of some of the established stars she gained an incredible third place. At the Bridge of Allan Games in 2001 she won the two female events and once again to the utter astonishment of the spectators won the men's 9st 7lbs Class.
Michelle created a unique record at Easter 2001 at the European Championships tournament; she became the first winner of a female international tournament in Backhold when she won the 56kgs class at Quimper in Brittany.
	The FILC (International Federation of Celtic Wrestling) has actively encouraged the development of female wrestling and in order to give female champions the same prestige as their male counterparts the FILC invited all affiliated countries to send female teams to the European Championships. The experiment was a success and the competition was ratified by the FILC as the first female championship in Celtic wrestling.
Unfortunately most of her international matches have been in the Breton style of Gouren, which is a jacket style and Michelle is a classically trained Backhold wrestler with no experience of jacket wrestling, but it is a different matter when the competition is in her native Backhold style. On Sunday February 23rd 2003 the Federation of Gouren organised its first ever Open National Championship tournament in Backhold style; in all there were 200 entrants from Brittany, France, Spain, England and Scotland. Michelle displayed her mastery of the techniques of Backhold wrestling by winning the 56 kgs championship of Brittany (and France) in an almost casual fashion.