The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week, you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight.
Past weight classes
Round of 16
Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Hannah Taylor (Canada) 6-1
Luisa Valverde Melendes (Ecuador) over Aurora Russo (Italy) Fall 2:34
Helen Maroulis (USA) over Anshu Malik (India) 7-2
Alina Hrushyna (Ukraine) over Anhelina Lysak (Poland) 16-13
Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria) over Chaimaa Aouissi (Algeria) Fall :31
Kexin Hong (China) over Khongorzul Boldsaikhan (Mongolia) 16-12
Giullia Penalber (Brazil) over Rckaela Aquino (Guam) Fall 1:02
Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) over Sandra Parurzewski (Germany) 9-0
Quarterfinals
Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Luisa Valverde Melendes (Ecuador) Fall 4:08
Helen Maroulis (USA) over Alina Hrushyna (Ukraine) 7-4
Kexin Hong (China) over Odunayo Adekuoroye (Nigeria) Fall 5:16
Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) over Giullia Penalber (Brazil) Fall 2:18
Semifinals
Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Helen Maroulis (USA) 10-4
Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) over Kexin Hong (China) Fall 1:37
Repechage
Hannah Taylor (Canada) over Luisa Valverde Melendes (Ecuador) 13-0
Giullia Penalber (Brazil) over Sandra Parurzewski (Germany) 13-0
Bronze Medal Matches
Helen Maroulis (USA) over Hannah Taylor (Canada) Fall :24
Kexin Hong (China) over Giullia Penalber (Brazil) 10-0
Gold Medal Match
Tsugumi Sakurai (Japan) over Anastasia Nichita (Moldova) 6-0
Notes:
Sakurai won her first Olympic gold medal, but had won gold in each of the previous three World Championships. Two at 57 kg and one at 55 kg.
It’s remarkable that Sakurai has four World/Olympic titles at only 22 years old.
Japan has won every Olympic gold medal possible in this weight range (55/57/58 kg). Yoshida in 2004, 2008, and 2012 at 57 kg. Icho in 2016 at 58 kg. Kawai at 57 kg in 2020.
The eight falls at this weight class (in 19 matches) were the most out of any weight class in any style at the 2024 Olympic Games.
The quarterfinals featured falls in three of the four matches.
Two of the falls occurred in under a minute.
Anastasia Nichita accounted for two of the eight falls.
Nichita and Sakurai met in a gold medal match for the second straight year. Last year, Sakurai prevailed only by a 3-2 margin.
Nichita is now a three-time World/Olympic medalist with a gold medal in 2022 and silvers in each of the last two years.
With her silver medal, Nichita is the first Moldovan woman to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.
Helen Maroulis’ bronze medal made her the first American woman to win three Olympic medals.
Maroulis is now a 10x World/Olympic medalist and she has made 14 World/Olympic teams.
At 32, Maroulis was the oldest of the 2024 Olympic medalists in women’s freestyle.
Kexin Hong’s bronze medal was her first World/Olympic medal.
The first round featured a pair of matches that pitted returning world medalists against each other. Maroulis/Malik and Hrushyna/Lysak.
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