US women’s wrestling wins two Olympic golds and closes gap on Japan in fight for supremacy

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PARIS (AP) — The United States closed the gap on Japan in women’s wrestling at the Paris Olympics.

The Japanese won four of the six gold medals for the third straight Olympics and claimed two bronze medals as well. But the Americans got women’s freestyle golds from Sarah Hildebrandt at 50 kilograms and Amit Elor at 68 kg, a silver from Kennedy Blades at 76 kg and a bronze from Helen Maroulis at 57 kg.

The United States became the only country other than Japan to win more than one Olympic gold since women’s wrestling was added to the Summer Games in 2004.

Fittingly, the last Olympic match featured Blades and Yuka Kagami of Japan. Kagami won the 76 kg final 3-1, but the message already had been sent – Japan is no longer alone at the top level.

The future looks bright for Team USA, too. Elor became the youngest Olympic wrestling champion in U.S. history at age 20. Blades, also 20, is just a few months older than Elor.

“It just speaks volumes to these women, our coaches and the people around us, and their investment in women’s sports,” Hildebrandt said. “You can see it in somebody like Amit Elor, who’s just so young and so talented, and so sure of what she’s doing. It’s supercool, and that just feeds everything. She feeds it to me, and I’m 10 years older than her. The environment is really growing, and the belief is building and building.”

Hildebrandt earned bronze in Tokyo before winning gold in Paris. In the moments after winning her gold, Elor credited Hildebrandt as a mentor.

“I’ve been through my highs and my lows,” she said. “I have to say Sarah’s a big reason for me being successful today, for healing my relationship with wrestling, loving the journey and staying positive. She’s just been such a great influence on me.”

Maroulis, who is considering retirement after winning her third Olympic medal, said that if she decides to moves on, the sport is in good hands.

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“This is the first time in the Olympic history that we’ve had two golds,” she said. “I think that shows that we’re growing and things are just getting better. And when you’ve got 20-year-olds on the team — hopefully they’re going to be running through three Olympics.”

Maroulis believes the sport will continue to grow as it progresses at other levels. At the collegiate level, women’s wrestling is classified an “emerging” sport, on track to become a championship-level sport in 2026. Girls’ wrestling is the fastest-growing high school sport in the United States.

Maroulis said as wrestling grows, it is important to remember those who got the movement started.

“There are a lot of women that came before me that made a way,” she said. “There were women that never got an Olympic dream, but because they were on the mat, they made it so that women’s wrestling would get added to the Olympics. So to continue that and having the baton get passed — it’s been an honor.”

American men claim three medals

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The men struggled by their standards, failing to claim a gold medal for the first time since 1968.

Spencer Lee was the highest-finishing American man, claiming a silver in 57 kg freestyle. He lost his gold-medal match to Rei Higuchi of Japan 4-2. He’s a first-time Olympian who won three NCAA titles at Iowa.

Kyle Dake earned bronze for the second straight Olympics in 74 kg freestyle. He scored nine points in the last 31 seconds of his bronze-medal match, rallying from a 4-1 deficit to win 10-4.

Aaron Brooks earned a bronze in 86 kg freestyle. He opened the Olympics with a 4-3 win over top seed Azamat Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan. He lost his semifinal to eventual gold medalist Magomed Ramazanov of Bulgaria after Ramazanov scored a counter exposure in the final seconds.

Zain Retherford could have added a medal in men’s 65 kg freestyle, but he withdrew from his repechage match on Sunday after symptoms from a previous concussion returned. Retherford was supposed to face Islam Dudaev of Albania, with the winner earning a spot in the bronze-medal match. Instead, Dudaev got a bye and won the bronze medal with a win over Iszmail Muszukajev of Hungary.

Kyle Snyder lost his 97 kg freestyle bronze-medal match to Amirali Azarpira of Iran 4-1. Snyder won gold in 2016 and silver in 2021.

Mason Parris was the No. 3 seed at 125 kg, but he lost his only Olympic match.

None Americans medaled in Greco-Roman.

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