Ali Bernard (born April 11, 1986 in

New Ulm, Minnesota New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,120 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Brown County. It is located on the triangle of land formed by the confluence of the Minnesota River and the ...

) is a female wrestler, who competes in the women's freestyle heavyweight (72 kg) division. Wrestling Greco-Roman-style in high school at New Ulm High School, she earned the Minnesota state high school championship in 2004. Bernard received a college scholarship to compete in women's wrestling at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university, public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the Unive ...

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, Canada, where she won four national college titles. At the US qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics she earned a bye to compete against 2004 bronze medal-winner Katie Downing, whom she defeated in two matches at the 2008 qualifying match in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

; that feat earned her a spot to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in

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, China, competing for the

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. She competed in the freestyle 72 kg/158.5 lbs class, because Greco-Roman-style is not yet an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

sport for women. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bernard defeated

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's Amarachi Obiajunwa, then lost to China's Wang Jiao which put her in the

repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

competition for a bronze medal. In those matches, she defeated Sweden's Jenny Fransson before losing to Japan's Kyoko Hamaguchi, placing fourth in her class. She won a bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships, beating Fransson, Wang Jiao and Ohenewa Akuffo before losing to Stanka Zlateva. As Zlateva reached the final, Bernard was able to fight for the bronze medal, beating Guzel Manyurova to win it. Bernard originally lost to Stephany Lee at the 2012 Olympic trials. Lee later tested positive for marijuana and Bernard was awarded the spot. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she lost to Jenny Fransson in the first round.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Ali Living people 1986 births Olympic wrestlers of the United States Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics American female sport wrestlers World Wrestling Championships medalists 21st-century American women