International Journalist Olympic Prediction Contest: Day Three Results

It was a rough day at the office for the twenty-one entries in TheMat.com’s annual International Journalist Pick Contest. 

After the first set of finals saw four journalists select all three champions correct, with nine others correctly selecting two of three, no one on Day 2 could muster more than a single correct pick.

Five of twenty-one got Nao Kusaka (JPN) right as he cruised to the title at 77kg in Greco. The most popular pick at that weight was Akzohl Makhmudov (KGZ), who finished Bronze. 

At 97kg in Greco, seventeen correctly picked a finalist but only four had champion Mohammad Saravi (IRI) as he edged Artur Aleksanyan (ARM) with a late takedown.

One of the most overwhelming number of picks came at 50kg in Women’s Freestyle with eighteen selections for Yui Susaki (JPN). But Susaki suffered her first career international loss in the opening round and Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) cruised through the tournament and was picked just twice.

The flight to set up Thursday’s finals didn’t perform much better for the journalists. No one correctly picked finalists in all three weights and just eight got two of three right. The most popular correct pick, with seventeen selections, was Japan’s Akari Fujinami at 53kgs. She’ll face Ecuador’s Lucia Yepez-Guzman, who garnered two picks. It is a rematch from last year’s World quarterfinal won by Fujinami in a tech.

Not a single journalist had a correct finalist at 67kg Greco where reigning World Champ Luis Orta (CUB), who was selected twelve times, lost in the opening round to Iran’s Saeid Esmaeili. He’ll face Ukraine’s Nasibov in the finals. 

And it wasn’t much better at 87. Just two have a finalist remaining in David Losonczi (HUN). 

Current Standings: