Valley athlete to be first female LGBTQ wrestler in Olympic history
Jun 21, 2021, 4:45 AM | Updated: 10:05 pm
Kayla Miracle (Courtesy photo)
(Courtesy photo)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – What began as a dream at a very young age for a Valley wrestler is about to become reality when she travels to Japan in July for the Olympics.
“I said I wanted to be an Olympic gold medalist. Kind of a crazy dream for a little kid to have,” said Kayla Miracle, who started wrestling when she was 4.
As it turned out, it wasn’t crazy at all.
Women’s wrestling wasn’t part of the Olympics until 2004, and now Miracle, who moved to the Valley in June 2020, will also be the first openly gay female LGBTQ wrestler in the Olympics, said one of her performance coaches, Noah Feinberg said.
“The more that I’ve been asked about it and open to answering questions, the more pride I take in it,” said Miracle, who’s been training with Feinberg and Andre Hicks at NeuroForce1 in north Scottsdale for weeks.
“I’m representing not only myself but the country and NeuroForce1 and the LGBTQ community when I take the stage in Tokyo.”
And she hopes to send a message to other LGBTQ youth. Just be true to yourself.
“I preach it all the time. Happiness breeds success,” Miracle said. “If you’re not being true to who you are, then you’re going to be very unhappy. It will be hard to find that true, real joy.
“When you’re finally able to do that, accept yourself and love yourself success whether it’s in the form of sports or the business world, whatever it is, you’ll be a lot more successful.”
