Patricia Miranda

Who is Patricia Miranda?

Patricia Noriko Miranda is a former American collegiate wrestler. She is the first American woman in Olympic history to receive a medal in woman's Olympic wrestling, winning the bronze at the 2004 Summer Olympics games in the 48 kg or 106 lb weight class.

As the daughter of political refugees from Brazil, Miranda began her wrestling career at age eleven by becoming the first female to wrestle, at Redwood Middle School and Saratoga High School. Her father initially opposed her wrestling and once threatened to sue her high school for allowing his daughter to wrestle on the boys' team. He eventually allowed her to wrestle as long as she maintained a 4.0 grade point average.

She continued wrestling at Stanford University and eventually earned a spot on the all-male NCAA Division 1 roster as a 125-pound starter. During her senior year, Miranda became only the second woman in NCAA history to beat a male opponent in competition and the first in more than a decade to do so at the time. In female competition, Miranda has had strong success including two World Championship silver medals and an Olympic bronze medal.