[1] She picked up the 2003 U.S. national runner-up trophy in her respective division, and later represented the United States team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, finishing sixth in the process.
After graduating from high school in 2001, O'Donnell enrolled at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where she competed on the women's wrestling team for an annual season.
Earlier in the process, she grappled her way to pin and upset her longtime nemesis and two-time World silver medalist Tina George from the Olympic Trials, which guaranteed her a spot on the first ever U.S. women's wrestling squad.
[7][8][9] In the prelim pool, O'Donnell opened her match by pinning Russia's Olga Smirnova with less than two minutes left, but fell short behind Canada's Tonya Verbeek by a ten-point superiority limit (1–11).
[10] Despite missing a spot on the semifinals, O'Donnell seized her opportunity to compete against Puerto Rico's Mabel Fonseca in the classification round, but could not score enough points to grapple her opponent off the mat with a 7–10 decision.