Martine Dugrenier, Olympic wrestler, forced to retire due to injury
Montreal athlete was 3-time world champion
Three-time world freestyle wrestling champion Martine Dugrenier announced her retirement due to an arm injury on Wednesday.
The two-time Olympian from Montreal was coming off a pair of surgeries on her left arm and said she was no longer able to compete at a high level.
"I would have preferred the Walt Disney scenario and have been able to compete at one last Pan Am Games and a world championship," the 35-year-old Dugrenier said. "I was hoping up to the last minute, but physically, it was impossible to go on."
The last match of her 15-year career was at the 2012 Olympics in London. Fighting with a sore arm, she lost an under 67 kilogram bronze medal match to Battsetseg Sotonzonbold of Mongolia. She lost a bronze medal fight in the under 63 kilogram class at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Dugrenier, a physical education teacher at Vanier College, won world championships in 2008, 2009 and 2010. She won consecutive world championship silver medals from 2005 to 2007.