Patricia Noriko Miranda (born June 11, 1979 in Manteca, California) is a former American collegiate wrestler. She is the first American woman in

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 ...

history to receive a medal in woman's Olympic

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, winning the bronze at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 48 kg or 106 lb

weight class Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Alte ...

. As the daughter of political refugees from Brazil, Miranda began her wrestling career at age eleven by becoming the first female to wrestle at Redwood Middle School and Saratoga High School. Her father initially opposed her wrestling and once threatened to sue her high school for allowing his daughter to wrestle on the boys' team. He eventually allowed her to wrestle as long as she maintained a 4.0 grade point average. She continued wrestling at Stanford University and eventually earned a spot on the all-male NCAA Division 1 roster as a 125-pound starter. During her senior year, Miranda became only the second woman in NCAA history to beat a male opponent in competition and the first in more than a decade to do so at the time. In female competition, Miranda has had strong success including two World Championship silver medals and an Olympic bronze medal. Miranda earned a bachelor's degree in Economics and a Master’s in International Policy Studies from Stanford University. In 2005, she won a highly competitive

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, founded by Paul Soros and Daisy Soros in 1997, is a United States postgraduate fellowship for immigrants and children of immigrants. In 2021, the Fellowship received 2,445 applications and aw ...

to help support her graduate studies in law. In 2007, she received her Juris Doctor from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

. Her coach and husband, Levi Weikel-Magden, is also a law school graduate, earning his degree at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. She is currently a partner at Miranda, Magden & Miranda LLP.

Career highlights

Olympic Games
Bronze Medal – Freestyle – 48 kg 2004 – Athens, Greece
World Championships
Bronze Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2006 – China
Silver Medal – Freestyle – 48 kg 2003 – New York, NY, United States
Silver Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2000 – Sofia, Bulgaria
World Cup Championships
Gold Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2007 – Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Gold Medal – Freestyle – 51 kg 2003
(''Named Most Outstanding Wrestler'', 2003)
Pan American Games
Gold Medal – Freestyle – 48 kg 2003 – Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic

References

External links

Patricia's Miranda's U.S. Olympic Team bio
1979 births Living people American female sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2003 Pan American Games Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics People from Manteca, California Sportspeople from San Joaquin County, California Stanford Cardinal wrestlers World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in wrestling Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century American sportswomen Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows {{US-wrestling-bio-stub