#ThrowBackThursday

#TBT: Olympic Champion Steveson Wins First World Title

By United World Wrestling Press

Gable STEVESON (USA) became an overnight sensation after winning a thrilling final and the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with wins over former world champions Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Taha AKGUL (TUR). The American was trailing Petriashvili in the 125kg final in Tokyo but scored two takedowns in the final 10 seconds to win the coveted Olympic title at the age of 21.

But a three-time age-group world champion has a habit of punching about his weight. In 2015, a 15-year-old Steveson made a stunning run at the Cadet World Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and won the gold medal with a 9-0 victory over Khasanboy RAKHIMOV (UZB). He outscored his opponents 47-12.

Since then he won the 2016 cadet world title, 2017 junior world title, 2021 senior Pan-Am Championships gold and the Tokyo Olympics gold with just the 2018 Junior World Championships being a lackluster event for him. The defending champion there finished fifth as Rakhimov avenged his loss from 2015 with a pin.

#wrestlebishkek

WATCH: 10 women's wrestling finals from #WrestleBishkek

By Vinay Siwach

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (June 11) -- Women's wrestling at the Ranking Series in Bishkek was expected to be dominated by China, a powerhouse. However, Ukraine had different ideas.

Ukraine showed by in big numbers and outperformed other nations in the third Ranking Series event, winning three gold medals. China and Kazakhstan won two each while India and Kyrgyzstan won one each.

Watch the 10 gold medal bouts from the third Ranking Series event.

GOLD: 50kg - Meng FAN (CHN) vs. Oksana LIVACH (UKR) 

GOLD: 57kg -  Alina HRUSHYNA (UKR) vs. Kexin HONG (CHN) 

Round 3: 72kg -  Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) vs. REETIKA (IND)