After a career in accountancy, Sally Goldner decided to get in the ring – as Zali Gold – and live out her childhood dreams
O
n the night of her 60th birthday, Sally Goldner climbed on to the top rope of the wrestling ring, to the roars of the crowd, and launched herself on to her competitors with a missile dropkick. The crowd roared. For a second, she was completely airborne, before landing on her opponents.
“‘Wow, I’m doing this,’” she thought. “Exhilarating. I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be doing on my birthday.” She had seized her moment in an Alpha Pro battle royal, a multi-competitor elimination match. As her opponents – all men – threw her out of the ring, they wished her a happy birthday.
Goldner, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, has been a lifelong fan of wrestling. As a child, she watched it on TV and at the city’s Festival Hall. “I was always fascinated by it,” she says. She remembers exactly where she sat in the arena to watch Harley Race and Ron Miller do battle in 1977.
