Wrestlers · Career complete

Randi Miller

2008 Olympic bronze at 63 kg, the first African American woman to medal in Olympic wrestling for the U.S.; 2014 Military World champion

Arlington, TX · Martin HS · Northern Michigan University

By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published October 10, 2026

Randi Miller is a retired U.S. freestyle wrestler from Arlington, Texas, who won Olympic bronze at 63 kg, about 139 pounds, in Beijing in 2008. She was the first African American woman and the first Texan to win an Olympic medal in women's wrestling.

She went out for wrestling at Martin High School after she was cut from the basketball team. At the 2001 UIL girls' state meet she reached the 165-pound final, where Casey Brittain of Amarillo Palo Duro beat her 3-1.

Miller wrestled at Neosho County Community College and MacMurray College, then trained at Northern Michigan University's U.S. Olympic Education Center. In 2005 she was Iris Smith's training partner at the World Championships, where Smith became the first African American woman to win a World title for the United States. In 2006 she won the Pan American title at 67 kg in Rio de Janeiro.

In 2008 she beat 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann of the Sunkist Kids in the U.S. Nationals final in April and at the Olympic Team Trials in June. In Beijing she lost only to Kaori Icho of Japan and beat Martine Dugrenier of Canada for bronze, the only wrestling medal a U.S. woman won at those Games. USA Wrestling named her its 2008 Women's Wrestler of the Year.

After Beijing she coached and tried mixed martial arts until the 2012 Olympics drew her back. Wrestling for the Army's World Class Athlete Program, she won the 2014 U.S. Open at 69 kg. In July she beat Veronica Carlson of the New York Athletic Club in a best-of-three wrestle-off for a place on the World Team.

She lost her opening match at the Tashkent World Championships. In October, as an Army sergeant, she won the CISM Military World title undefeated. She was runner-up at the 2015 U.S. Open and U.S. Nationals and placed third at the 2016 Olympic Team Trials.

She is the head coach at Texas Woman's University, where she became the wrestling program's first coach in 2021, and leads the Pioneers into their fifth season.

Results

Season	Level	Event	Weight	Place	Note
2000-01	High school	UIL State Championships	165 lb	2nd	Wrestling for Arlington Martin, she beat Ana Cevallos of Katy Mayde Creek 18-5 and pinned Rosa Rueda of El Paso Socorro in 2:20, then lost the final 3-1 to Casey Brittain of Amarillo Palo Duro
2006	Senior	Pan American Championships, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	67 kg	1st	Wrestling for the U.S. Olympic Education Center, she was one of three U.S. women to win gold. She had placed second at the U.S. Nationals in Las Vegas on April 15.
2007	Senior	Dave Schultz Memorial International		1st	One of three medals she won at the Dave Schultz Memorial International between 2004 and 2008
2008	Senior	Ivan Yarygin International, Russia		3rd	January 2008. She also took bronze at the Dave Schultz Memorial in Colorado Springs in February and silver at the Medved International in Belarus in March
2008	Senior	U.S. Nationals, Las Vegas	63 kg	1st	April 24, 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, her first U.S. Nationals title. Wrestling for the Gator Wrestling Club, she beat 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann of the Sunkist Kids 2-1, 4-0 in the final and was named Outstanding Wrestler.
2008	Senior	U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Las Vegas	63 kg	1st	June 13, 2008 at the Thomas and Mack Center. Wrestling for the Gator Wrestling Club, she beat Sara McMann (Sunkist Kids) in two straight matches of the best-of-three series, 1-3, 4-0, 2-0 and 1-0, 1-0
2008	Senior	Olympic Games, Beijing, China	63 kg	3rd	4-1. Aug. 17, 2008 at Zhongguo Nongye Daxue Tiyuguan. She pinned Haiat Farag (Egypt) in the opening round, lost only to two-time Olympic champion Kaori Icho (Japan) in the quarterfinals, and beat three-time World silver medalist Martine Dugrenier (Canada) in the bronze-medal match. She was the only U.S. woman to win a wrestling medal at those Games and the third U.S. woman to win one at any Olympics, after Sara McMann and Patricia Miranda. USA Wrestling named her its 2008 Women's Wrestler of the Year, announced in June 2009. She wrestled that season for the Gator Wrestling Club as a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete.
2014	Senior	U.S. Open, Las Vegas	69 kg	1st	April 19, 2014 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, wrestling for the U.S. Army. She beat Veronica Carlson of the New York Athletic Club 3-1 in the final. USA Wrestling counted it as her second Open title, the first since 2008, and her Texas Woman's bio counts 2008 and 2014 as her two U.S. Senior national titles.
2014	Senior	U.S. World Team Trials, Phase II, Fargo	69 kg	1st	2-1. July 19, 2014 at the Fargo Dome, a best-of-three special wrestle-off with 2013 World Team member Veronica Carlson of the New York Athletic Club. Carlson won the first match 3-0, and Miller won the next two 2-1 and 6-2 to qualify for the World Championships.
2014	Senior	World Championships, Tashkent, Uzbekistan	69 kg		Sept. 10, 2014. Agnieszka Wieszczek-Kordus of Poland, also a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, pinned her in 2:27 in the first round, and Miller was eliminated when Wieszczek-Kordus lost her next match.
2014	Senior	CISM World Military Wrestling Championship	69 kg	1st	4-0. The 29th CISM championship at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, Oct. 1 to 8, 2014. Army Sgt. Miller went 4-0 in the five-woman round robin, beating Agnieszka Wieszczek-Kordus of Poland 5-1 and Chunying Wang of China 2-0, with Enas Mostafa Yousef of Egypt second. Texas Woman's University says she served in the Army National Guard's World Class Athlete Program, while USA Wrestling says she competed for Army WCAP.
2015	Senior	U.S. Open, Las Vegas	69 kg	2nd	May 9, 2015 at the South Point Arena. World champion Elena Pirozhkova of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club, up a weight class, beat her 4-3 in the final.
2015	Senior	U.S. Nationals, Las Vegas	69 kg	2nd	Dec. 19, 2015, at the U.S. Nationals and Olympic Trials qualifier. Tamyra Mensah of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club beat her 5-2 in the final.
2016	Senior	U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Iowa City	69 kg	3rd	April 9-10, 2016 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The top three in each weight class were named to the 2016-17 U.S. National Team.

What we could not confirm

Anything not on this page, a high school record, a final score, a season, was left out because no primary source stated it when this was written. If you have a bracket, a program, or a clipping, send it to the operator, Joe Spisak, at joe@womenswrestlingclub.com and the page gets the number.

Sources

https://www.themat.com/news/2020/july/30/usaw-history-lesson-randi-miller · USA Wrestling history lesson, July 2020: Miller is a native of Arlington, Texas; she went to Neosho Community College, then MacMurray College, then Northern Michigan University, training with the US Olympic Education Center under Shannyn Gillespie; she began competing at the senior level in 2004 and wrestled most of her career between 63 kg and 69 kg; she won the 2006 Pan American Championships and three Dave Schultz Memorial International medals including gold in 2007; she won the 63 kg spot for Beijing by defeating 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann; written before Tamyra Mensah-Stock's 2021 Olympic gold, the page calls her 'the first, and so far only, African-American female to win an Olympic medal in wrestling'; in Beijing she won four of five matches, losing only to Kaori Icho, and beat Martine Degrenier of Canada for bronze; she competed for Army WCAP, wrestled at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent without placing, and won the World Military Championships a month later; she began coaching at Missouri Baptist in 2010
https://www.themat.com/news/2009/june/11/randi-miller-named-2008-women--20463 · June 11, 2009 USA Wrestling: Miller named 2008 Women's Wrestler of the Year; bronze at 63 kg/138.75 lbs in Beijing, the only U.S. women's wrestler to medal at those Games and the third U.S. women's wrestler ever to win an Olympic medal, after Sara McMann and Patricia Miranda; four wins in five matches, losing only to two-time Olympic champion Kaori Icho of Japan in the quarterfinals, and beating three-time World silver medalist Martine Dugrenier of Canada for bronze; won the 2008 Olympic Team Trials in Las Vegas over McMann in two straight; won her first U.S. Nationals title in Las Vegas in April 2008 over McMann; 2008 medals at the Medved International (silver), Dave Schultz Memorial (bronze) and Ivan Yarygin International (bronze); U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete in 2008; attended Neosho County CC, MacMurray College and Northern Michigan; high school at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas
https://twuathletics.com/news/2023/5/26/wrestling-randi-miller-inducted-into-arlington-athletics-hall-of-fame.aspx · May 26, 2023: Miller inducted into the Arlington Athletics Hall of Fame at the Tom Vandergriff Night of Champions banquet; she graduated from Martin High School in 2001; she joined wrestling after being cut from the basketball team; she earned the State Runner-Up title in Texas; girls' high school wrestling was sanctioned in Texas in 1999; after Martin she attended Neosho County Community College, MacMurray College and Northern Michigan University
https://twuathletics.com/staff-directory/randi-miller/175 · Texas Woman's University staff bio: Miller joined TWU as the inaugural coach of the wrestling team on Aug. 4, 2021; a native of Arlington, Texas, she was the first Black woman and Texan to win an Olympic medal in women's wrestling, and was the only Black woman to win a medal for USA Wrestling until Tamyra Mensah-Stock won gold in 2021; 2014 Military World champion and 2014 U.S. World Team member; U.S. Senior National Team 2008 and 2012-16; U.S. Senior National champion 2008 and 2014; 10-time U.S. senior-level All-America honoree; 2008 USA Wrestling female wrestler of the year; assistant coaching stints at Missouri Baptist, MacMurray and Limestone; South Carolina USA Wrestling women's director from 2018; served in the U.S. Army National Guard World Class Athlete Program; led TWU to a fourth-place NCWWC regional finish and five national qualifiers in 2022-23 and three qualifiers in 2023-24; before TWU she was an assistant coach on the 2021 U.S. Cadet World Team in Budapest, which won its first freestyle team title
https://twuathletics.com/sports/wrestling/coaches · Texas Woman's University lists Randi Miller as head coach on its 2026-27 wrestling coaching staff page
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/117009 · Olympedia: Randi Criner Miller, affiliated with the Gator Wrestling Club, Chico; one Olympic bronze medal, 2008 Summer Olympics, women's freestyle middleweight. Olympedia gives her birthplace as Berkeley, California, while USA Wrestling and Texas Woman's University call her a native of Arlington, Texas.
http://www.olympedia.org/results/263525 · Olympedia bracket for the 2008 women's freestyle middleweight (63 kg) event, held 17 August 2008 at Zhongguo Nongye Daxue Tiyuguan in Beijing with 17 entrants: Kaori Icho (JPN) gold, Alyona Kartashova (RUS) silver, Yelena Shalygina (KAZ) and Randi Miller (USA) bronze; in round one Miller beat Haiat Farag (EGY) by fall
https://tech-fall.com/2008INT/08OTResults.html · 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials results, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, June 13, 2008: women's freestyle 63 kg, 1st Randi Miller (Gator Wrestling Club), 2nd Sara McMann (Sunkist Kids), 3rd Alaina Berube (New York AC), 4th Tori Adams (Sunkist Kids); championship series round one Miller dec. McMann 1-3, 4-0, 2-0 and round two Miller dec. McMann 1-0, 1-0
https://armedforcessports.defense.gov/Media/News-Stories/Article-View/Article/566313/miller-wins-gold-fay-takes-silver-smith-and-feroleto-add-bronzes-at-cism-milita/ · Armed Forces Sports: Army Sgt. Randi Miller went undefeated in the women's freestyle 69 kg round robin to win gold at the 29th CISM World Military Wrestling Championship at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, Oct. 1 to 8, 2014; Enas Mostafa Yousef of Egypt took silver
https://www.themat.com/news/2017/march/08/first-african-american-female-olympic-medalist-randi-miller-keeps-moving-forward · March 8, 2017 USA Wrestling feature: Miller was the first African American woman to win an Olympic medal, bronze at 63 kg in Beijing (the page's own headline and text carry no sport); she went to the 2005 World Championships as Iris Smith's training partner and watched Smith become 'the first African-American woman World wrestling champion for the United States'; after the 2008 Olympics she stepped back from wrestling and took up MMA, 'all for fun', and watching the 2012 Olympic Games brought her back; she made three National Teams at 69 kg, including the 2014 World Team, and the previous September became an assistant coach at MacMurray College
https://www.themat.com/news/2014/april/20/alyssa-lampe-among-womens-champs-crowned-at-us-open · USA Wrestling wrap of the U.S. Open women's finals, wrestled Saturday night, April 19, 2014, at the Las Vegas Convention Center (the story carries an Apr 19, 2014 byline at a /april/20/ URL): at 69 kg/152 lbs., Randi Miller (U.S. Army) dec. Veronica Carlson (New York AC), 3-1; 'Miller won her second Open title, but first since 2008 after not competing in the last Olympic cycle'
https://www.uiltexas.org/wrestling/state-results/2000-2001-girls-wrestling-state-results · UIL 2000-2001 girls' state results: at 165 pounds, Casey Brittain of Amarillo Palo Duro beat Randi Miller of Arlington Martin 3-1 in the final
https://www.uiltexas.org/files/athletics/state-wrestling/2001_Girls_Wrestling_Brackets-1.pdf · UIL 2001 girls' state meet brackets, 165 pounds: Randi Miller of Arlington Martin beat Ana Cevallos of Katy Mayde Creek 18-5 and pinned Rosa Rueda of El Paso Socorro in 2:20, then lost the final 3-1 to Casey Brittain of Amarillo Palo Duro
https://www.themat.com/news/2006/june/07/cataline--miller--lee-win-gold-14663 · June 7, 2006 USA Wrestling: Miller (Arlington, Texas/USOEC) won the Pan American title at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, one of three U.S. women's gold medals; she had placed second at the U.S. Nationals on April 15 in Las Vegas
https://www.themat.com/news/2008/april/25/miranda--miller-among-champion-18574 · April 25, 2008 USA Wrestling: at the U.S. Women's National Championships, Thursday night at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Randi Miller (Gator WC) beat 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann (Sunkist Kids) 2-1, 4-0 in an upset for her first U.S. Nationals title and was named Outstanding Wrestler; the champions in the four Olympic weight classes (48, 55, 63 and 72 kg) earned a spot in the best-of-three series at the Olympic Team Trials
https://www.themat.com/news/2014/july/19/maroulis-miller-burkert-prevail-at-phase-ii-world-team-trials-in-womens-freestyle · July 19, 2014 USA Wrestling: at the Phase II World Team Trials at the Fargo Dome, Miller (U.S. Army) lost the first match to 2013 World Team member Veronica Carlson (New York AC) 3-0, then won 2-1 and 6-2 in a special wrestle-off at 69 kg/152 lbs. to qualify for the World Championships in Tashkent
https://www.themat.com/news/2014/september/10/helen-maroulis-earns-bronze-medal-at-world-championships · Sept. 10, 2014 USA Wrestling, World Championships in Tashkent: at 69 kg/152 lbs., Randi Miller (U.S. Army WCAP) lost by fall in 2:27 in the first round to fellow 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Agnieszka Wieszczek-Kordus of Poland and was eliminated when Wieszczek-Kordus lost her next match
https://www.themat.com/news/2015/may/10/pirozhkova-tops-miller-to-highlight-us-open-womens-finals · May 9, 2015 USA Wrestling, U.S. Open finals at the South Point Arena, Las Vegas: World champion Elena Pirozhkova (Titan Mercury WC), up a weight class, beat Randi Miller (U.S. Army), the returning champion, 4-3 at 69 kg/152 lbs.
https://www.themat.com/news/2015/december/19/mensah-pfau-hendey-win-first-national-titles · Dec. 19, 2015 USA Wrestling, U.S. Nationals and Olympic Trials qualifier in Las Vegas: Tamyra Mensah (Titan Mercury WC) beat Randi Miller (U.S. Army WCAP) 5-2 in the 69 kg/152 lbs. final
https://www.army.mil/article/165887/soldier_athletes_wrestle_tough_at_u_s_olympic_team_trials · April 2016 U.S. Army report on the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials, April 9-10 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City: Sgt. Randi Miller was third in women's freestyle at 69 kg, and the top three in each weight class were named to the 2016-17 U.S. National Team
https://twuathletics.com/news/2021/8/4/wrestling-randi-miller-named-head-wrestling-coach.aspx · Aug. 4, 2021 Texas Woman's University: Miller named the inaugural head coach of the TWU wrestling program, scheduled to begin competition in 2022-23; she 'moved from competition into coaching', with assistant stints at Missouri Baptist, MacMurray College and Limestone College and as South Carolina USA Wrestling Women's Director since 2018; most recently an assistant coach on the 2021 U.S. Cadet World Team in Budapest
https://twuathletics.com/news/2026/9/11/wrestling-twu-wrestling-announces-2026-27-schedule.aspx · Sept. 11, 2026 Texas Woman's University: TWU Head Coach Randi Miller and the Pioneers released their 2026-27 schedule as they prepare for their fifth season on the mat
https://www.themat.com/news/2008/june/04/u-s--olympic-team-trials-previ-18822 · June 4, 2008 USA Wrestling preview of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in women's freestyle at 63 kg/138.75 lbs.: 2008 U.S. Nationals results, 1st Randi Miller (Gator WC) dec. Sara McMann (Sunkist Kids), 2-1, 4-0, her first U.S. Nationals title and third career win over McMann; Miller qualified for the best-of-three finals at the Trials

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