Wrestling Championship-Mom-Wife-Army Officer

34-Year-Old Mother And Army Officer Leigh Jaynes-Provisor Defies Odds To Win World Wrestling Bronze 
Team USA
BY BRANDON PENNY
SEPT. 12, 2015

“I’ve always felt like God was in my corner, but really just recently I surrendered it all to God,” she said. “I’m a wife and a mom and a service member and a wrestler, and that’s a lot on my plate. It makes it a lot easier for me to just give it all to God and just go out there and do what I do best.” Leigh Jaynes-Provisor

LAS VEGAS -- Leigh Jaynes-Provisor is not your typical wrestler.

Leigh Jaynes-Provisor celebrates her women's 60 kg. quarterfinal win at

the 2015 World Wrestling Championships on Sept. 11, 2015 in Las Vegas.

That was clear from the high-pitched scream of “Yay, Mama!” that emitted from 2-year-old daughter Evelyn during Jaynes-Provisor’s post-competition press conference.

Jaynes-Provisor is not 25 – the average age of the rest of the U.S. women at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships.

She is 34.

She is a mother, a wife and a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Army.

And now, she is a world championship bronze medalist at 60 kg., a feat she accomplished 17 years after first taking up the sport in high school.

“I really march to the beat of my own drum,” Jaynes-Provisor said. “A lot of people would say that at 34 you’re past your prime, your career is over. I really don’t believe that.

“In my locker, it said a Michael Jordan quote that limitations are just illusions. You set those upon yourself.”

Jaynes-Provisor understands limitations better than most, which is why she has become a symbol. She is a symbol to men, women and children around the world that anything is possible and any obstacle can be overcome.

Hers is a story that could not get much more dramatic if it was written for a movie.

She was born to a father who struggled with drug addiction as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder from his time serving in Vietnam and a mother who was single before long.

Her mother’s inability to provide financial stability for Jaynes-Provisor and her brother led to her being placed in a group home, a time of her life that also included stints in a rehab center and the psychiatric ward of a hospital, which she says were the result of a misconception.
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