GRAPPLING WITH ISSUE OF GENDER BARRIER.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

At first, Terry Steiner didn't know if he could handle all of it, including the sexist comments, jokes and quips from colleagues who believed the wrestling mat was no place for women.

In the spring of 2002, Steiner had been offered the chance to be the first coach of the United States women's wrestling team, and Steiner needed to figure out if he wanted to commit to a sport that long had been ridiculed by his fellow men's college coaches.

``When I was trying to make the decision, my wife said, `You have to believe in this because you have to be their advocate,' and I didn't know if I could do that,'' Steiner said. ``She said, `What if your daughter wanted to follow in your footsteps? Would you want her to have to go through the same things that these girls are going through?' Then I started looking at it a little differently.

``It took me awhile to change my attitude. Ultimately, I had to ask myself the question, `Why do I coach?' I really believe in the sport of wrestling and what it teaches, and the conclusion I came to is that if I really believe in the sport, why should it matter if I'm coaching men or women? If it's such a great sport, why do we want to hold it to half of the population?''

Steiner took the job in April 2002, and this month he will lead the first U.S. women's wrestling delegation to Athens, Greece. The trip won't just be about breaking a gender barrier, however, as all four team members would seem to have solid chances to win medals.

Patricia Miranda (105.5 pounds), Tela O'Donnell (121), Sara McCann (138.75) and Toccara Montgomery (158.5) will be among the favorites in their respective weight classes, and their stiffest competition likely will come from Japan, which also has been progressive in women's wrestling in recent years.

Women's wrestling was the only sport to be added to the Games after 2000. Although women's wrestling is still considered a niche sport, its international profile has increased significantly since then and will only grow with the exposure in Athens.

``I don't want to put too much pressure on our women, but having them do well could definitely be a catalyst for our sport,'' said Steiner, who also competed at the University of Iowa.

``I want those girls to walk out of there with their heads high, no matter what. It's exciting, just to be a part of this because they are a great group of people and a great group of athletes. They're the pioneers of the sport, so no matter what happens, they're the first Olympians.''

That fact makes men like Kent Bailo beam with pride.

Bailo, who has a full-time job in the automotive industry in Michigan, is one of the forefathers of women's wrestling. In 1997, when the sport had little national credibility, Bailo, a longtime referee, staged his first state tournament for high school girls so, he said, ``girls could find out how good they were.''

Three of the four Olympians won at Bailo's tournament, and Miranda couldn't compete because she had already graduated from high school.

``Hopefully this exposure will help the sport,'' Bailo said. ``Let's say there will be 20 million little girls sitting home with mom and dad when one of these four girls wins a gold medal. These little girls will say, `I didn't know girls could wrestle. I want to be like Toccara. I want to do that, dad,' and how are the parents going to hold them back? These women could become media darlings.''

The sport certainly needs some promotion. Only seven colleges, none of them with major athletic programs, have women's wrestling teams, so most women compete with the men, as they do in high school. One of the biggest problems is a battle within the sport.

Many men's wrestling programs were cut nationwide as college athletic directors attempted to comply with Title IX - the civil rights legislation that requires schools to offer equal opportunity for men and women or risk losing federal funding - so there has been a backlash against the notion of adding even more women's teams.

``Women's wrestling definitely has a way to go,'' Steiner said, ``because not only is it trying to get respect as a mainstream sport, but it's also trying to get respect within its own sport.

``There are some high school and college coaches who just don't agree with the idea of it, and that's the attitude that we're trying to change. We're never going to do anything without the coaches because they're the ones who need to create the opportunities at the grassroots level.''

It's happening slowly. Bailo and Steiner compared women's wrestling at this stage to how women's basketball was at the outset, and Bailo said he looks forward to the day when his organization is no longer needed, when girls nationwide have the ability to compete against each other.

``These women are telling us, `We don't want you to give anything to us, we just want the opportunity to get what (the men) get if we work as hard as they do,' '' Bailo said.

In that way, consider Athens the first step in a long, but rewarding, process.

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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