Kellen Forrest for Dinos Athletics
Special to Postmedia Network
Erica Wiebe (BKin ‘12, BA ‘16) took one look at the University of Calgary campus and knew it was where she needed to be.
One of the greatest wrestlers in Canadian history and a 2016 Olympic gold medallist, Wiebe will be inducted into the Dinos Hall of Fame next week. And it all started when she took her recruiting visit to Calgary.
“I came to the University of Calgary on my recruiting trip; it was this chinook day; there had been like five centimetres of snow, and the campus in February just looked absolutely immaculate,” Wiebe said. “Immediately I fell in love with the people, the environment, and everything just felt so like home. And I just knew I was going to be a Dino.”
But Wiebe came into a deep Dinos wrestling roster and didn’t even make the varsity team in her first year. And while many would have been discouraged, Wiebe used that year to learn what kind of athlete she was going to be.
“Every single day, being in that high-performance environment, I really learned the skills of how to push myself,” Wiebe said. “To learn the technical, tactical skills that were required in wrestling … I never scored a point in my first year, but I think what defined me is I got taken down a lot, but I got up more than anybody else.”
Once Wiebe did get her shot, she didn’t look back. She helped lead the Dinos to three consecutive conference titles from 2009-11, along with the program’s fifth national title in 2009.
The Stittsville, Ont., product claimed three individual U SPORTS gold medals and was named the 2011-12 Canada West Outstanding Wrestler.
The individual accolades are all well and fine, but it was doing it with her teammates that Wiebe will really remember.
“To go through the process with the women to compete every single day in the room with them, and then to compete in a competition environment and ultimately to win three Canada West championships, a university national championship, that is probably the highlight of my university career,” Wiebe said. “As athletes in the sport of freestyle wrestling, you have so much inherent respect for the people you do it with. And so, to do something like that as a team is something that is really one of the best parts of my university career.”
Wiebe’s wrestling career was far from over after she left the Dinos in 2012. Prior to her gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, she brought home gold from the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the World University Games. She added a fourth international gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Queensland, before capping off her remarkable four-year run with a bronze medal at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest.
An outstanding resume on the world stage that Wiebe knows was only possible because of her time with the Dinos.
“I really, truly believe that consistency sets the table for breakthroughs. And I always like to say I won the Olympics like on a random Tuesday five years prior to that because I consistently showed up in that Dinos wrestling room,” Wiebe said. “I consistently had the support and challenge of my teammates to push me beyond where I was comfortable. And I just leaned into that every single day.”
Wiebe will become the second member of the University of Calgary women’s wrestling program to enter the Dinos Hall of Fame after Justine Bouchard in 2022. It’s an honour she doesn’t take lightly, especially due to the incredible class she’s going in with and the list of athletes she will be joining.
“I think as a Dino, I mean, the history and legacy of the men and women that competed for this university have paved the way for the success that we have on the mat, in the gym, on the ice,” Wiebe said. “There is such a culture of excellence at the University of Calgary. And so to be part of this class right now, but also to be part of this legacy, is something that’s truly an honour.”
Wiebe will be inducted into the Dinos Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Monday at the Fairmont Palliser, along with the other five members of the Class of 2024: Sam Effah (track & field), Dan Federkeil (football), Gord Franson (builder, soccer), Les Gramantik (coach, track & field) and Hayley Wickenheiser (hockey).