Chicago wrestler earns Olympic silver medal

PARIS (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Chicago native Kennedy Blades will return home with a silver medal.

The 20-year-old freestyle wrestler fell in Sunday’s 76-kilogram gold medal match to world champion Yuka Kagami of Japan. Blades lost the match 3-1.

Despite the defeat, Blades had a sensational Olympics. Earning her way to the gold medal match, Blades knocked off three higher-seeded foes. In the semifinals, Blades upset top seeded Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan.

Prior to the Paris Games, WBBM’s Rick Gregg visited with Blades , sharing her remarkable journey.

Blades, the daughter of a Chicago Police sergeant, began wrestling at an early age, focused on the dream of one day winning an Olympic gold medal.

“Ever since I was 7, I’ve been doing wrestling full time,” she told WBBM. “When I was a little girl, I never really went to the birthday parties I was invited to, I never went on, like, the school trips, because I had to train or I had a tournament or something. But my goal was to win a state title that year, win nationals, stuff like that. So I knew that I had to sacrifice.”

Along with her sister Korina, Kennedy has emerged as one the United States top wrestlers. Kennedy won the U.S. Heavyweight Championship at just 20-years-old.

One would think this is only the beginning for the Kennedy Blades, and that the expectation is that she'll be front and center in Los Angeles four years from now, determined to earn that long-desired gold medal.

WBBM's Rick Gregg contributed to this report.

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