- All right everybody, please welcome
2020 Olympic gold medalist, Tamyra Mensah-Stock.
(everyone applauding)
(upbeat music)
(woman gives high scream)
Oh my gosh,
I need to tell you I'm one of your biggest fans,
just from that interview.
Like, if you haven't seen the whole interview already
you've got to watch it.
I love the whole Carrie Underwood Champion song,
I love the whole thing, I thought it was so great.
Congratulations on your gold medal
and meet Beth, Deidre and Rob.
(crowd cheering)
I've been nerding out.
Okay, so you spoke about your dad in that video
and sadly he passed away when you're in high school,
but what was he like at your events?
Like your tournaments before?
- Like I said, in the interview,
he was definitely one of loudest people,
if not the loudest person in the auditorium.
Every single competition or dual, he'd always yell,
"Kill them, Kill them, Kill them!".
(everyone laughs)
And right after done with the match I'd tell him,
"Daddy, you're not supposed to say that,
I'm not supposed to kill them,
I'm just supposed to pin them and beat them".
He was like, "No, you go out there and you go kill them.
That's what you do."
I was like ah.
(crowd applauding)
- Oh my gosh, I love that.
(crowd cheering)
Wait so, your dad cheered you on,
but I hear you have something that you do
before events, right?
- Yes, before I go into competitions,
I like to settle my nerves
by singing karaoke.
And I think it's a great way to just express,
(raspy scream)
just express myself and basically
alleviate a lot of stress from everybody else.
And I had a lot of people join in on fun,
and I actually brought a karaoke machine
to the Kanagawa, in Tokyo, in Japan,
because I knew I was just gonna be,
you know, under a lot of stress.
I didn't wanna feel that,
and so I brought a karaoke machine.
And one of the songs that I actually got to sing,
that I love singing, is songs by you ,so it was-
- What song?
- It's "Because of You", that's the song that I love to do.
(everyone laughing)
- Wait!
(Kelly laughing)
That is like a super depressing song.
That is a super depressing song to get you amped up.
- The song, it's me talking about my past,
like talking to my past self,
and all the mistakes that I've made and just basically
(sound cuts out)
I know what I've been through
and I'm going to come out it, and I'm gonna get stronger,
and I'm going to move forward.
Why? Because of you.
And it's a great song!
- [Kelly] Oh I love that!-
- Come on.
(crowd applauding)
(Tamyra singing)
- ♪ I've learned the hard way that fist fights start with, ♪
♪ Because of you ♪
♪ I never stray to far from the sidewalk ♪
(crowd Cheering)
- That's my favorite thing to learn about people.
Like you write a song and it's about your own
whatever going on and then how people take songs
and they really apply them to themselves.
Like it's incredible.
That's so cool, I've never thought of that song like-
I'm gonna start thinking of it that way,
cause my way is real depressing.
- [Kelly] ♪ Muh muh muh ♪
But we we have a girl backstage
whose dream is to be the next Tamyra.
She's 12 and already winning tournaments
across the state of California.
So cute.
Her dream is to win gold just like her hero.
She looks tough y'all.
She has no idea to Tamyra is with us,
or that Tamyra has a surprise in store.
We'll bring to Tamyra backup on the monitor
whenever it's time, but we want to surprise her.
So stick around everybody. You don't want to miss this.
(everyone applauding)
Joining us now is Velaria, a 12 year old wrestling phenom,
who's beating the pants off girls and some boys
across California. I love her already.
She's also a member of the Beat The Streets,
an organization that promotes wrestling
in underserved communities.
So Valeria. Hi.
- Hey
(crowd cheering)
- And welcome her and meet everybody
- Hi guys
- So, okay you kicked some serious but girl,
I've seen your stats. So when did you start wrestling?
- I actually started wrestling when I was in,
I was actually seven years old when I started wrestling.
I used to be a very girly girl at first,
I really liked doing dance and gymnastics and stuff,
but then right after some of those practices,
I did have to go to practices to go watch my brother,
cause you know, I had to do that. Yeah.
(everyone laughing)
- My kids don't like it either
when they have to watch the other.
- But yeah, my mom did see that there was
some little, little girls, like maybe like six, five,
starting to go to the practices and stuff
and there were really not that many girls over there.
- Yeah
- There was barely any.
- Yeah
- But after that, you know,
a couple of weeks later on
there was a tournament that was going on and my coach
he was like, "Hey, do you want to compete?"
And I said, "Sure, why not? Let's just try it out".
Try it out.
- Oh my Gosh, you're so cute look at you!
(crowd applauding)
- It's truly amazing.
So what inspires you to do this?
Like, especially you said it's mostly boys, right?
What inspires you to keep doing this?
- So my family is definitely one-
They're so supportive and I'm just
surrounded by so much love and support.
And my biggest cheerleader though is definitely my Abuela.
- Oh, your Grandma, I love that.
(crowd applauding)
Was she kind of like, cause I dunno,
for her generation it must've been like, "Wait what,
you're doing what?" Was she like that at first?
- (laughing while saying) Yeah exactly,
she was like, "What is that?"
- Oh, I love that.
- But she was, she was always telling me like,
"Go show those boys with a girl can do."
- Oh my gosh, I love your Grandma.
(everyone applauding)
How impressive is she?
- Awesome, awesome
- Oh my gosh! I love it.
Well what's your ultimate dream?
- Well, my ultimate dream is definitely to compete,
you know win gold in the Olympics.
- Go ahead, reach for it, yeah.
(crowd cheering)
I would definitely love to place top three,
definitely top in the Olympics.
- You love to win.
- Just like Helen Maroulis.
And you know, she I've seen her wrestle she's amazing,
her technique is amazing, She's pretty fast too.
Her take-downs are really good too.
- Yeah ,you know who I love personally? Tamyra
Did you see Tamyra?
- Oh my gosh yes, she's amazing!
Again, their techniques are just, oh my gosh, amazing.
- Oh my gosh, so going for the gold.
Well there's someone that I know,
who also believes, that you have what it takes
to make it to the Olympics.
And I want you to meet her maybe.
So it's Tamyra Mensah-Stock!
(everyone applauding)
- Oh my gosh.
(crowd cheering)
- Oh no, oh no, wait,
oh no, here you go, here you go.
Oh my gosh, she's losing it.
Oh!
(man shouting "whoo")
- Oh my gosh!
- I love how happy you are.
Go ahead Tamyra. What do you wanna say to Valeria?
- Oh my gosh, Valeria, I am so proud of you
for everything that you accomplishing, for going out there
and making sure that nobody stops you,
because the only, the only person
that's gonna stop you is you.
And you are so tough, I can tell that not even you
are gonna be able to stop yourself.
You're going to get first place.
(crowd applauding)
- Oh my gosh. I'm crying, she's crying.It's contagious
- Everything's fine.
- Oh my gosh, that's awesome right?
( people yelling "whoo")
- Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
That's a gold medalist telling you, you can do it.
You believe it, right?
- Yeah, definitely.
- All right, all right.
Well, you wanna stay in touch with her, right?
- Valeria, you know due to Safe Sport
We have to make sure that you are safe
because you are under 18,
So if we can get in a group message
with you and your Abuela, I would greatly appreciate it.
I'd love just to be able to stay in contact with you
and just support you on your journey,
because I know a support system is key
and vital to your success, so please please please,
stay in touch with me.
(everyone applauding)
- Yes, oh my god, a group chat with an Olympian.
It's a good day Valeria.
(Kelly laughs)