Wrestler Erica Wiebe gets her wish: gold medal at Commonwealth Games

Match over, Erica Wiebe takes a deep breath and stands up. She plucks out her mouthguard with her left hand, then offers a modest fist-pump with her right. And that's it.

The reaction is less about euphoria than it is about having simply taken care of business. "There was a lot of expectations on me, a lot of pressure, so it was good to win," Wiebe said of her low-key celebration. "I took that moment to reflect and just be in that moment."

This, though, had been no small moment. Her victory this week in the gold-medal match of the women's 76-kilogram freestyle wrestling competition meant Wiebe had successfully defended her Commonwealth Games championship.

In 2014, she prevailed in Glasgow, Scotland. Four years later — thanks to her first-round pin of Nigeria's Blessing Onyebuchi in Gold Coast, Australia — she's golden once again.

"The most special thing about this one is just reflecting how far I've come since then — it's been a long four years," said Wiebe. "It was so great to be here and see how far I've come as an athlete and also see how far I need to go to reach my potential."

• Update: Wiebe named Commonwealth Games flag-bearer

Wiebe credited that success in Glasgow with helping her earn gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"When I won in 2014, that was my first major win on a major stage," said the 28-year-old. "That's what gave me the confidence when I was going into the finals in Rio — I had been in that position before … so I knew what I had to do to win.

"Now to be back here, to be back on top at the Commonwealth Games, it's good looking forward to 2020 (and the Summer Games in Tokyo)."

Her march to this week's showdown at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre had been relentless. Wiebe dispatched her first two opponents, from Sierra Leone and England, without surrendering a single point.

"It was different competitors, different opportunities, a great chance to be out there," said Wiebe, who, from the University of Calgary, has earned two bachelor degrees: kinesiology in 2012, sociology in 2016. "Any time at a major multi-sport games, there's going to be pressure, there's going to be expectations. It doesn't matter who you wrestle … it's always going to tough. It was just great to go through the process of warming up, of being in the warmup area, of experiencing all of the bells and whistles that are associated with it — then performing.

"It's all about the performance. Anything other than gold would have been a failure, probably, in terms of expectations or outcomes. But, really, we were going for a performance, we were going to execute a game plan. So that was the goal, always."

Before her arrival in Australia she'd declared that she wanted to do three things: pet a koala, get a tan, and get a gold medal.

Wiebe got her first wish on Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games, then began work on the second wish during her stay at the athletes' village. The third and final checkmark came Thursday. And, as she Tweeted out shortly after her podium-topping triumph: "Now what's a girl to do!?"

Which happens to a great question, actually. Wiebe returns Monday to Calgary, where she'll take a two-week breather before resuming her intense training schedule. Her next event is slated for June in Toronto, where she'll compete for a national-team spot for the upcoming World Cup season.

"That'll set the international-tournament schedule for the summer," said Wiebe. "My goal is to win that and represent Canada at world championships in Budapest in October."