Patricia Noriko Miranda is a former American collegiate wrestler.
Background
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
Career
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. 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 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 roster as a 125-pound starter.
During her senior year, Miranda became only the second woman in National Collegiate Athletic Association history to beat a male opponent in competition and the first in more than a decade to do so at the time.
Miranda earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s in International Policy Studies from Stanford University. In 2007, she received her Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School.
Olympic Games
Bronze Medal – Freestyle – 48 kg 2004 – Athens, GreeceWorld Championships
Bronze Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2006 – China
Silver Medal – Freestyle – 48 kg 2003 – New York, New York, United States
Silver Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2000 – Sofia, BulgariaWorld Cup Championships
Gold Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2007 – Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Gold Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2003
(Named Most Outstanding Wrestler, 2003)Pan American Games
Gold Medal – Freestyle – 48 kg 2003 – Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.