American Helen Maroulis (57 kg) , at the Olympic Trials last April at Penn State, won a bronze medal on Friday at the Olympics in Paris. She is the first American women to win three Olympic medals.
Courtesy USA Wrestling
PARIS, France, August 9, 2024 – Three American won medals on Friday at the Olympic Games in Paris at Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Spencer Lee won silver at 57 kilograms (125.6 pounds) in men’s freestyle, Aaron Brooks (86 kg/189.5 pounds) won a bronze medal and Helen Maroulis (56 kg) became the first American woman to win three Olympic medals with a bronze medal.
Four-time world champion Kyle Dake (74 kg/163.1) dropped a wild semifinal bout to Japan’s Daichi Takatani, 20-12 and will wrestle for a bronze medal on Saturday.
In the gold medal bout, Lee battled Japan’s Rei Higuchi, a 2022 world champion who won a silver medal in the 2016 Olympic Games. Higuchi won a close battle, 4-2, for his second career Olympic medal.
Lee scored two first-period step out points, including one while he was on the shot clock, to lead 2-0 at the break. In the second period, Higuchi scored a takedown to tie it at 2-2 and lead on criteria. A last second Lee attack was countered by Higuchi for the final takedown of the match.
“I’m a guy who believes more and wins and losses is more about effort, and I don’t think I put a lot of effort in that match, so, you know, I didn’t deserve to win today,” Lee said. “He scored one scramble. I think action favors me, and I let him hang on my hand and kind of just stand there, and he won one scramble, and that was it.”
On Thursday, Lee stopped Wanhao Zou of China, 3-2 in his first match, then had two straight technical fall victories. He beat Bekzat Almaz Uulu of Kyrgyzstan, 12-2 in the quarterfinals and Gulomjon Abduallaev of Uzbekistan, 14-4 in the semifinals.
Lee was competing in his first Olympics. He was a three-time NCAA champion for Iowa and won three age-group world titles for the United States, two at the U17 level and one at the U20 level.
With his mother being from France and his French grandmother at the arena watching him, Lee picked up plenty of vocal support from the French citizens in the crowd.
Spencer Lee, shown at the Olympic Trials last April, earned a silver medal at 57 kilograms the Olympics Friday in Paris.
Lee took little solace in winning silver. “I’m still figuring out whether I want to keep wrestling or if I want to figure something off a lot of my life,” he said. “A lot of time and effort put into getting back into a healthy enough state to wrestle, and then I go and I fail. I’m competitive. I want to be the best of what I do.”
Maroulis became the first U.S. woman to win three career Olympic wrestling medals, claiming the bronze medal with a stunning 24 second pin over Hannah Taylor of Canada. Maroulis quickly got Taylor to the mat and finished the pin.
Maroulis was the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and won a bronze medal in Tokyo in 2020. The first U.S. woman to earn a spot on three Olympic teams and she is the first to have three Olympic medals in her trophy case.
“Ah, it’s a dream. It’s so crazy. I’m so grateful. This is like, this is just a dream. I look back on my career and I’m like, I never would have thought as a young girl I could achieve this,” she said.
On Thursday, Maroulis was defeated in the semifinal by No. 1 seed and three-time world champion and eventual Olympic champion Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan, 10-4. Maroulis won her first two matches of the day Thursday, beating Anshu of India, 7-2 and Alina Hrushyna Akobiia of Ukraine, 7-4.
It’s been an emotional journey for Maroulis.
“I’ve just had a lot of cries just with the realistic thought that this could be my last Olympics,” she said. “And I really thought that I was going to win in the semifinals. And I thought all my preparations were amazing. And when that didn’t happen, I just battled with a lot emotionally. I really haven’t dealt with heartbreak at the Olympics yet. And it was very hard all day to keep those tears at bay and just focus on the job and then really wrestle with joy.
“I didn’t want to just go out there and wrestle scared or wrestle to win. I really wanted to wrestle my very best because if this is the last memory I have of myself on the mat, I wanted it to be something beautiful. And so that’s kind of what happened.”
Maroulis was a four-time WCWA college national champion, winning three for Simon Fraser and one for Missouri Baptist. She is a native of Rockville, Md.
Competing in his first Olympics, Brooks shut out 2024 Asian silver medalist Javrail Shapiev of Uzbekistan, 5-0 in the bronze-medal bout.
Brooks led 1-0 at the break when Shapiev was put on the shot clock and did not score in 30 seconds. In the second period, Brooks forced a step out to lead 2-0. After going on the shot clock, he nailed a blast double takedown for a 4-0 lead and added another step out to close out the win.
In the semifinals, Brooks lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to No. 5 seed and eventual champion Magomed Ramazanov of Bulgaria when Ramazanov scored a counter exposure in the closing seconds. Brooks opened the Olympics with a 4-3 win over No. 1 seed Azamat Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan, then beat Hayato Ishiguro of Japan by technical fall, 11-1.
Brooks, a four-time NCAA champion for Penn State, has won age-group World titles at the U20 and U23 levels. He hails from Hagerstown, Md.
Seeking his first berth in an Olympic final, Dake lost to Takatani, 20-12 in the semifinals.
Dake, who won a bronze medal in Tokyo, opened the scoring with a takedown to lead 2-0. In an active exchange, Takatani got an exposure, Dake got a reversal for two and Takatani got a reversal, for a 4-3 lead for Dake. Takatani turned Dake twice to make it 9-4 at the break.
In the second period, a Dake takedown and turn cut the Takatani lead to 9-8. Another big exchange saw Dake get two points, Takatani two on a reversal, then two ankle laces by Takatani to make it 15-10. Near the end of the period, with Takatani on a shot, Dake went for two tilts. Officials met and said the score was 19-12 for Takatani. A USA challenge was denied, making the final score 20-12.
Dake, who is seeded No. 1, opened with a first-period 10-0 technical fall over Anthony Montero Chirinos of Venezuela, a 2016 Pan American champion.
In the quarterfinals, Dake dominated then pinned two-time world medalist Yones Emamichoghaei of Iran in 5:37. Dake scored two takedowns and a step out to lead 5-1 at the break. A quick takedown and turn in the second period stretched the lead to 9-1. Dake took Emamichoghaei to his back and finished the pin with 23 seconds to go.
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In women’s freestyle, two–time world silver medalist and 2020 Olympian Kayla Miracle, was edged in the quarterfinals by No. 1 seed Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in a 6-6 criteria decision. Miracle (62 kg/136.6 pounds) is seeded No. 8 at this weight.
Miracle jumped to a 3-0 lead at the break with a takedown and a shot clock point. In the second period, Tynybekova scored on a step out to make it 3-1. In a key exchange, Tynybekova got behind Miracle and scored a four-point takedown, to take a 5-3 lead. A USA challenge was denied, to make it 6-3. A Miracle shot lead to step out out with 28 seconds left to close it to 6-4. A Miracle takedown in the last second ties it at 6-6, but Tynybekova secured the tie-breaker with a four-point move.
For Miracle to qualify for the Saturday repechage, Tynybekova, a three-time world champion, needed to win her semifinal match against Iryna Koliadenko of Ukraine but Tynybekova lost ending the tournament for Miracle.
Miracle looked sharp in her opening 12-2 techical fall over Nesrin Bas of Turkey, a 2022 and 2023 U23 World champion and 2024 European champion.
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In men’s freestyle, 2023 world bronze medalist Mason Parris fell in his Olympic debut at 125 kg (275 pounds) to two-time world medalist Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur of Mongolia, 10-5.
Parris, who was seeded No. 3, scored a first-period takedown and led 2-1 at the break. He extended the lead to 3-1 with a step out point. In a key move, Munkhtur took Parris down on the edge for four points. A U.S. challenge was denied making the score 6-3. Munkhtur walked Parris off the mat for a step out and a caution and one for fleeing to make it 8-3. Another Munkhtur takedown closed it out at 10-3.
Mason Parris was eliminated when No. 6 seed Giorgi Meshvildishvili of Azerbaijan defeated Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur of Mongolia, 12-2. Only losers to finalists are eligible for repechage.
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The final three weight classes of the Olympic Games get underway on Saturday morning at 11 a.m., (5 a.m., EST) with the U.S. represented in men’s freestyle by 2016 Olympic champion and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Kyle Snyder at 97 kg and 2023 World champion Zain Retherford at 65 kg. Also wrestling in women’s freestyle is Kennedy Blades at 76 kg.
The United States has now won five medals in Paris, with three in women’s freestyle and these first two in men’s freestyle. Winning gold medals in women’s freestyle earlier in the week were Amit Elor at 68 kg and Sarah Hildebrandt at 53 kg.
Compiled with information from USA Wrestling
