After winning a world title, many women would take a few minutes to sit back and enjoy the accomplishment.
Not Adeline Gray, though. Just hours after winning a freestyle wrestling world championship title at the 67-kilogram (147.5-pound) weight class, a smiling Gray already was talking about how she would be better in the future.
"I'm going to start getting more into throwing, and I'm going to start getting more into executing my attacks and having to get crisper and cleaner all the time," Gray said in an interview with USA Wrestling.
Sure, Gray's already thinking of how she will improve in the future, but she's also extremely grateful for her recent accomplishments on the wrestling mat, she said.
Gray, 21, is just the sixth American woman to ever win a freestyle wrestling gold medal at the World Championships, according to TheMat.com. In order to win gold, Gray had to defeat 2012 Junior World Champion Dorothy Yeats of Canada in the final match. During the second period, Gray pinned Yeats and came away from the mat with the win.
Yeats, 19, won a Junior World title earlier in the month.
In 2008, Gray also won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships. Then, she said she didn't quite understand what winning world titles was all about.
Since then, though, Gray has competed in two Senior World Championship tournaments. In 2009, she finished fifth, and in 2011, she finished third and won bronze.
It was those placements -- of the top spot of the podium -- that helped to make her 2012 World title so special, Gray said.
"Now that I've been through the grind and see how hard these girls push and how much has gone into this medal, it's so much more than just something that's around my neck right now," Gray said during the interview with USA Wrestling. "So it's really exciting that I'm getting to just live the dream."
Read more from this author: Wrestler Leigh Jaynes Fails to medal at 2012 World Championships
Sandra Johnson is a longtime Olympic fan. While working for the United States Olympic Committee and living in the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Johnson had the opportunity to immerse herself in the Olympic Movement. Follow her on Twitter: @SandraJohnson46
