Toronto, Pan Am Games, Canada

U.S. Sweeps into Freestyle Finals in Pan Am Games

By William May

TORONTO, Canada (July 18) – Defending champions Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) and Jake HERBERT (USA) advanced to the finals of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games on Saturday and will attempt to win gold medals for a second straight Games later Saturday evening.

Burroughs (74kg) and Herbert (86kg) will be joined in the gold medal matches at Mississauga Sports Center by teammates Kyle SNYDER (96kg) and three-time Pan American championships winner Zachery REY (125kg).

The U.S. quartet will try to match the four gold medals won in the same corresponding categories at the Guadalajara 2011 Games with Burroughs and Herbert leading the charge again.

 

Burroughs will square off South American Games champion Yoan BLANCO (ECU), who has won bronze medals at 66kg in Guadalajara and at 74kg at last year’s Pan Am championships.

In his opening bout of the day, Burroughs rolled up a technical fall against fellow 2014 world bronze medalist Livan LOPEZ (CUB), who will wrestle for a bronze medal on Saturday evening. Lopez was the 66kg gold medalist at the 2011 Games.

 

Herbert, meanwhile, will take his second shot at Reineris SALAS (CUB) this summer after a loss to the two-time world silver medalist at the Beat the Streets event in New York in May.

Herbert cruised into the gold medal match at 86kg with a pair of technical falls, while Salas was forced to go the full six minutes with decisions on points in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

At 96kg, Snyder, a 2013 junior world champion, also rides the momentum of a pair of technical falls into the final and will go up against Pan American championships bronze medal winner Arjun GILL (CAN).

Bringing the curtain down on the Pan Am Games’ wrestling competition will be Rey, who won his third Pan Am championships crown in Santiago in April, and Korey JARVIS (CAN), a bronze medal winner in April.

Gill and Jarvis were both gold medalists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Freestyle
74kg
GOLD: Yoan BLANCO (ECU) v Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)
BRONZE: Johnathan SCOTT (CRC) df. Cristian SARCO (VEN)
BRONZE: Livan LOPEZ (CUB) v Jevon BALFOUR (CAN)

86kg
GOLD: Reineris SALAS (CUB) v Jake HERBERT (USA)
BRONZE: Tamerlan TIGZIEV (CAN) v Pool AMBROCIO (PER)
BRONZE: Ricardo BAEZ (ARG) v Jaime ESPINAL (PUR)

97kg
GOLD: Kyle SNYDER (USA) v Arjun GILL (CAN)
BRONZE: Yuri MAIER (ARG) v Jose DIAZ (VEN)
BRONZE: Jesse RUIZ (MEX) v Marcos SANTOS (PUR)

125kg
GOLD: Korey JARVIS (CAN) v Zach REY (USA)
BRONZE: Edgardo LOPEZ (PUR) v Hugo DE OLIVEIRA (BRA
BRONZE: Rene SILVA (NCA) v Andres RAMOS (CUB)

#WrestleParis

Wrestling at Paris 2024: Tazhudinov wins gold; Kiyooka, Kagami continue Japan's dominance

By Vinay Siwach

PARIS (August 11) -- The final day of wrestling at Paris 2024. Repechages round and then the medal bouts of Freestyle 65kg and 97kg and women's wrestling 76kg.

LIVE MATCH ORDER | PARIS 2024 DAY 6

14:00: Yuka KAGAMI (JPN) is an Olympic champion! The world champion beats Kennedy BLADES (USA) 3-1 in the 76kg weight class and clinches the top medal for Japan. It's first-ever for Japan in the heavyweight.

13:45: Tatiana RENTERIA (COL) hangs on! She takes the bronze medal with a 2-1 win over Genesis REASCO (ECU). Colombia's third medal in women's wrestling at the Olympics.

13:30: Cuba won its second women's wrestling medal at this Olympics! Milaimy MARIN (CUB) stuns world silver medalist Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) 6-0. That is the second Olympic loss for Medet Kyzy in bronze-medal bouts at the Games.

13:10: Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) is an Olympic champion! The world champion pins Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO) in a minute and 52 seconds to win the gold at 97kg. First-ever Olympic champion for Bahrain in wrestling.

12:55: Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) claims the bronze medal at 97kg after he shuts down Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR). He wins the bout 10-0. The second bronze goes to Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) who gets three stepouts in his 4-1 win over Kyle SNYDER (USA). This is the first time Snyder has not won a medal at a World Championships or Olympics since 2015.

12:30: Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) is an Olympic champion! What a win for the young star. After beating Tokyo Olympic champion Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) in the domestic playoff, Kiyooka beats Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) 10-3 in the 65kg final to keep the gold medal with Japan. Amouzad with the first point but Kiyooka goes lace after takedown and makes it 10-1 at the break. A takedown in the second period but Amouzad has nothing left in him to attack. Kiyooka wins gold.

12:15: Islam DUDAEV (ALB) with a buzzer-beating one point to beat world champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) 13-12 for the bronze medal at 65kg. Muszukajev fell behind 12-8 but hit a front headlock four to lead 12-12 on criteria. However, Dudaev with a reversal and one point with 3 seconds left.

12:00: The first bronze medal of the day goes to Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)! He comes back in the final 10 seconds to beat Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL) 9-8. Tumur Ochir gave up a takedown in the second period and Rivera turned him two times to lead 8-4. Tumur Ochir hit his filthy underhook to headlock four to lead 11-8 on criteria but Rivera with a takedown late. Initially, it is not scored but Rivera wins on challenge. 

11:42: Genesis REASCO (ECU) has given a chance to Ecuador to win two medals in wrestling in Paris. She hangs on to beat Tokyo bronze Yasemin ADAR (TUR) 3-1 in the 76kg repechage. She will take on Tatiana RENTERIA (COL).

11:30: Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) sets up a bronze medal bout against Kyle SNYDER (USA) after the Iranian beat Alisher YERGALI (KAZ) 10-0 in the repechage at 97kg

11:20: History was on line had Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA) had pulled off one takedown against Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR). De Lange was down 2-2 on criteria but got a leg attack and tried exposing Mchedlidze. The Ukrainian somehow blocked De Lange and threw him off balance to take two points and win 5-3. He will wrestle for bronze

11:10: Maxim SACULTAN (MDA) opened a 4-0 lead over Sebastian RIVERA (PUR) in the 65kg repechage bout but Rivera in the second period puts on 14 points and wins 14-4. He will wrestle Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL) for the bronze

11:00: Welcome to the final day of wrestling at the Paris 2024 Olympics. After five repechage bouts, we move into the medal bouts. Zain RETHERFORD (USA) and Catalina AXENTE (ROU) are injured and there will be one fewer repechage bouts in 65kg and 76kg.