Team USA's Tamyra Mensah Stock celebrates after a 4-1 win in the finals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games to win Olympic gold at 68 kilograms. Photo courtesy of USA Wrestling.
Tamyra Mensah Stock is a 2020 Olympic champion at 68 kilograms.
It was worth the wait for Team USA fans during the second session of day three (session six overall) in Tokyo. The only American to take to the mat, Tamyra Mensah Stock, did so in the final match of the session. Mensah Stock did not disappoint, bringing home the second gold medal in American women's freestyle wrestling history.
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Mensah-Stock is now the first female black Olympian in the sport of wrestling for Team USA.
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She is just the seventh Olympic medalist in American women's freestyle wrestling history. Mensah Stock is joined Helen Maroulis, who won gold in 2016; Clarissa Chun, bronze in 2012; Randi Miller, bronze in 2008; Sara McMann, silver in 2004; and Patricia Miranda, bronze in 2004.
In her gold-medal bout, Mensiah Stock, the No. 1 seed at 68 kg, beat the No. 2 seed, Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu 4-1.
Mensah Stock struck first with a takedown on a spin-behind to take a 2-0 lead in the finals. Oborududu responded with a reversal to cut the deficit in half, making it 2-1. Another successful leg-attack for the American extended the lead to 4-1 at the break. The second period was scoreless, and Mensah Stock won by that same 4-1 score over Oborududu, who became Nigeria's first-ever Olympic finalist and Olympic medalist. Mensah Stock is now 4-0 against the Nigerian, with wins in 2018 (Beat The Streets/USA vs. Nigeria), 2019 (World Championships), 2020 (Matteo Pellicone), and now this year in Tokyo.
Oborududu, a worthy opponent, qualified for Tokyo through the African/Oceania Olympic Qualifier. She is now a three-time Olympian, and she has won 10 African Championships gold medals and a Commonwealth Games title to her credit. Plus, she is coming off a silver medal at the 2021 Poland Open.
With the win, Tamyra became the second Team USA women's freestyler to bring home a medal in as many days. Five-time World champion Adeline Gray added an Olympic silver medal to her remarkable wrestling resume. Gray and Mensah Stock have now matched the 2004 U.S. Olympic women's wrestling team, winning two medals. That said, three U.S. women's freestylers have yet to compete in Tokyo at the 2020 Games.
Tamyra's path to a gold medal was undoubtedly impressive. Mensah Stock, a 2019 World champion herself, started her quest for gold by securing a dominant 10-0 first-period tech over 2016 Olympic champion Sara Dosho of Japan.
Next, the Katy, Texas native, punched her ticket to the semifinals by securing her second straight tech fall. This technical superiority victory came over 2015 World Silver medalist Feng Zhou (China) 10-0 thanks to five takedowns from the American. The win avenged a loss to Zhou from the 2020 Matteo Pellicone finals.
On her second day of competition, Mensah Stock faced some adversity for the first time in Tokyo, but the result was still the same – a win. She was able to take out 2018 World champion Alla Cherkasova of Ukraine in the 68 kg semifinals 10-4. In the semifinals, the American got an early takedown to take a narrow 2-0 lead. From there, the top-seed weathered the storm a bit, giving up a go-behind and turn to trail 4-2 in the second. However, Mensah Stock responded convincingly after the restart, rattling off eight consecutive points to win 10-4. Her eight-point run included a reversal to tie it at 4-4, followed by two more takedowns, one of which had a turn attached.
Finally, Tamyra capped off her time in Tokyo with a convincing 4-1 finals decision where Mensah Stock controlled the match for all six minutes, shutting down the attacks of Oborududu at every turn.
While this Olympic gold is obviously Mensah Stock's most significant achievement in the sport, the 28-year-old is no stranger to international and collegiate accolades. Mensah Stock was a 2019 World champion in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and won a World bronze medalist in 2018 in Budapest, Hungary. She was also a member of the Senior World Team in 2017.
Mensah Stock's first experience as an Olympic competitor have been a long time coming. After winning the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, Mensah Stock did not compete in Rio de Janeiro because the U.S. failed to qualify her weight class for the Games.
She was a two-time WCWA national champion for Wayland Baptist University.
The official release from USA Wrestling can be found here.
Official Event Results
OLYMPIC GAMES WRESTLING
At Makuhari, Chiba, Japan, August 2
Group Two U.S. women’s freestyle performances
68 kg – Tamyra Mensah Stock (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC), gold medal
WIN Sara Dosho (Japan), tech, fall 10-0
WIN Feng Zhou (China), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Alla Cherkasova (Ukraine), 10-4
WIN Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria), 4-1
Group Two final results
68 kg
Gold - Tamyra Mensah Stock (USA)
Silver - Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria)
Bronze - Meerin Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan)
Bronze - Alla Cherkasova (Ukraine)
5th - Sara Dosho (Japan)
5th - Battsetseg Soronzonbold (Mongolia)
7th - Zhou Feng (China)
8th - Khanum Velieva (ROC)
9th - Anna Carmen Schell (Germany)
10th - Elis Manolova (Azerbaijan)
Gold – Tamyra Mensah Stock (USA) dec. Blessing Oborududu (Nigeria), 4-1
Bronze – Alla Cherkasova (Ukraine) pin Sara Dosho (Japan), 2:33
Bronze – Meerin Zhumanazarova (Kyrgyzstan) pin Battsetseg Soronzonbold (Mongolia), 4:06
Group 3 women’s freestyle finals pairing
62 kg - Aisuluu Tynbekova (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Yukako Kawai (Japan)
Group 3 women’s freestyle semifinal results
62 kg
Aisuluu Tynbekova (Kyrgyzstan) tech. fall Iryna Koliadenko (Ukraine), 10-0
Yukako Kawai (Japan) dec. Taybe Mustafa Yusein (Bulgaria), 3-2
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