How and when did you get started in wrestling?
Well, actually I didn´t know much about wrestling before I met my husband. He was a wrestler, Pan-American Champion at his time. I started understanding wrestling by watching him train and compete. You could say our daughter learned to walk on a wrestling mat. So wrestling became a part of my life, my family life. I had been working as a sports manager with football (soccer) in Colombian professional teams. I think I had a special knack for it. That is how I got into the sports administration world. Finally, I put those two things I love together and started working with wrestling by becoming president of a regional wrestling league in Antioquia, Colombia in 2002.
How do people react when you tell them you are a wrestler?
At the beginning I wasn´t very well accepted, especially by men, probably due to the fact that wrestling has been considered a male sport and that I hadn´t been a wrestler myself, meaning I should have no idea about it at all. Nevertheless as years have passed of my being a president of the regional league and later the national federation, these men have understood that we women are excellent managers/directors in any sport. When I talk to people outside the wrestling world about this part of my life, they don´t believe me. Many people don’t know what wrestling is, and tend to think of it as something like boxing, that men go to bet on, watch and drink beer. So they get why I would work in something like that and exactly what I would be doing there. Usually I have to begin explaining what wrestling is. However, since Jackeline Renteria´s medal in the Olympics, wrestling has become better known to Colombian people outside of the wrestling community.
What’s your best memory of wrestling?
My best memory is of when Jackeline Renteria qualified for the Olympic Games in the 2007 World Cup in Azerbaijan.
Who has been the biggest inspiration during your life in wrestling?
My husband. He has been my greatest inspiration in wrestling.
What’s your favorite thing about wrestling?
I like watching my athletes compete and win. I like seeing how these kids that I have witnessed become good people in their society, train hard, very hard, prepare themselves, dedicate their young lives to this, become international level athletes and win, that makes me very happy. So when they win by superiority, well that, you could say, is my favorite part of wrestling.
What does being part of the Olympic family mean for women’s wrestling?
For me it means that I´m helping with the social fabric of my country, by giving women, especially adolescent women, an example of how far you can go. It is this youth that we have to give special attention to and guide letting them know that through sports and the adequate use of leisure time you can go very far as a woman. That´s what gives a neighborhood, a city, and a person a better quality of life. If more young women become aware of this, maybe there will more female athletes practicing this sport wanting to be the best and go far.
What advice would you give to girls who want to start wrestling today?
That the first thing is to have the support of your family, their presence, and that through sport you can have education and a good quality of life. That it´s hard, and you have to make an effort every day. But at the end the rewards are worth it. In other words, to not give up, to follow through.
What are your hopes for the future of women’s wrestling?
That Women´s Wrestling be the cutting edge event in every championship, whether regional, national, world or Olympic; because we women are capable of doing whatever we set our minds to and of reaching our goals.
Can you tell us more about Jackeline Rentería's "Sport is the Pathway to Success" project?
Jackeline was lucky enough to experience success through wrestling and it provided her a lot of opportunities in life. She decided she wanted to give back something to her local community in Cali, especially to those less fortunate than her. She decided to offer some Christmas presents to children in the local community. Initially they organised a pick up point for the gifts and distributed about 250 presents - toys, clothes, sports items. A lot more people showed up than expected which meant some kids were disappointed. Jackeline wanted to make sure this didn't happen again and the following year went door to door to give tickets to the event to each family, along with a collection coupon for the presents. Now the event is attended by thousands of people and Jackeline uses this as an opportunity to teach parents about the benefits of sport.
Any additional information of the success of the Colombian federation since you took over:
I consider that the Colombian Federation has had great success about the management since I took over, on the basis of a reengineering of the administrative processes and, in order to achieve that, a strict discipline about the times, paths and relationships among the organization members and with key organizations.
Plan for Women’s related project?
We want launch a competition aimed at girls. The first step should be call for schoolgirls and cadets at national level, and then look for a regional or international scope. This project is currently on the desk but we are looking for the resources to hold such tournament later this year.
