The Open Mat's 11 Takeaways From Tokyo 2020 Wrestling So Far

Having concluded the morning session (session eight of 13) earlier today, Wednesday, August 4th (in the U.S.), we have watched through the men's freestyle semifinals at 57 & 86kg, plus the women's freestyle 57kg semifinals. 

At this point, eight of the 13 total sessions of Olympic wrestling at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are in the books, and approximately nine of the 18 total weights across all three styles have award medals.  

At roughly the halfway point of the Olympic wrestling festivities, it's time for some of TOM's Takeaways concerning unique storylines that have emerged from the first half of the competition.

While this is by no means a comprehensive list, here are 11 noteworthy occurrences from the first few days in Tokyo across all three styles.  

Cuba's Mijaín López is the GOAT: In Tokyo, the Cuban heavyweight won his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman at 130 kg (286 pounds). López, who will turn 39 years old in just over two weeks, is a five-time Olympian and a four-time gold medalist (López took fifth-place in his first Olympic Games in 2004). Statistically, his dominance over his four-peat has been nothing short of spectacular. Over those 16 matches, López is unbeaten and outscored his opponents by a combined 78-3. Additionally, in his last three Games, he outscored opponents a 54-0. In other words, he was not scored on in London, Rio, or Tokyo. After capturing his latest gold, López joins Japan's Kaori Icho as the second wrestler ever to win four Olympic gold medals. It is still unknown whether López will try for a five-peat in 2024 (though many in the wrestling community hope he does), but he is undoubtedly one of the best Olympic athletes ever, regardless of sport. 

Cuba's Greco Prowess is on Full Display: We already discussed the herculean efforts of the Cuban big man Mijaín López, but his fellow Cuban Greco Luis Orta (60 kg) was stellar as well. To capture Greco gold, Orta went 4-0 and outscored his opponents by a combined 25-4 margin. Most impressively, he took out an immensely credential group along the way, including USA's Ildar Hafizov (2x Olympian), Russia's Sergey Emelin (2018 World champion), Moldova's Victor Ciobanu (2018 World silver medalist), and Japan's Kenichiro Fumita (2x World champion). What a run for the 26-year-old Cuban, winning a bracket with nine World/Olympic medalists in it. As a team, Cuba collected individual gold in the first two Greco weights it competed in. 

Aline Rotter-Focken Women's Wrestling History for Germany: As the saying goes, "There's no better way to go out than to go out on top." Well, that's precisely what Aline Rotter-Focken did when she beat Team USA's Adeline Gray in the finals at 76 kg. She announced before the Games that this would be her last completion. So, she ended with a bang, winning gold and becoming the first German woman wrestler to win the top prize at the Olympics. Lastly, Rotter-Focken avenged a 5-2 loss to Gray from the semifinals of the 2019 World Championships. It doesn't get much sweeter than that. 

Team USA with Early Success in Women's Freestyle: Just like Cuba crushed the competition out of the gate in Greco, the American women did the same in freestyle. At 76 kg, Adeline Gray took home silver while her teammate Tamyra Mensah Stock stormed to a Tokyo gold medal. Plus, three of the duo's combined eight matches came by tech or pin. The pair became the third (Gray) and fourth (Mensah-Stock) Team USA female freestylers to make the Olympic gold-medal match. To go two-for-two in terms of Olympic finalists to begin the Games is pretty special. And, to do so as convincingly as Mensah Stock did, in such a deep bracket, was fun to watch. Additionally, Helen Maroulis, a 2016 Rio gold medalist, is still in contention for a Tokyo bronze. Also, American female freestylers (Jacarra Winchester and Sarah Hildebrandt) haven't started their tournaments yet. This will probably be the best women's freestyle team the USA put together since women started wrestling in the Olympics in 2004. . 

Surprising Defeats for Former Olympic Champs: Obviously, the Olympics are a tough, grueling tournament. That said, some of the biggest surprises have been the very premature exits by former Olympic gold medalists . Here are some more eye-catching defeats: Canada's 2016 Olympic Champ, Erica Wiebe, lost in the first round. In her first match, Sara Dosho of Japan, a 2016 Rio champion, fell via 10-0 tech. Similarly, the 2016 Greco-Roman Olympic gold medalist Ismael Borrero (Cuba) also fell in the opening-round bout. Russia's 2012 gold medalist Natalia Vorobieva was eliminated in her second match in Tokyo. 

Japan Has Suffered Some Tough Losses on Its Home Turf: On the women's side, according to Jason Bryant of Mat Talk Online, Tokyo 2020 was the third straight Olympics where Japan has failed to medal at the highest women's freestyle wrestling weight (76 kg). On the men's Greco side, Kenichiro Fumita (60 kg) came up just shy of the Olympic gold many expected from him. He took home silver instead. 

Blessing Oborududu Makes Olympic History for Nigeria: While Oborududu didn't get the gold medal she likely hoped for in Tokyo, her 4-1 defeat in the 68 kg Olympic finals was still history. By taking home a silver medal, Oborududu became Nigeria's first-ever Olympic Wrestling medalist. 

Yasemin Adar Makes History for Turkey in Women's Freestyle: Anytime you are "the first to do something in your country's history, you are in rarified air. That is precisely the case for Turkey's Yasemin Adar, who took home the first Olympic medal (a bronze) to Turkey. Also of note, she won the medal via fall in the bronze-medal bout. 

Siblings Wrestling in Tokyo 2020: Qualifying for the Olympic Games is a momentous feat in its own right, but to accomplish that honor alongside your sibling at the same Games is remarkable. We have seen that wrestling has been a "family affair" inside Makuhari Messe Hall this week. The Geraei brothers of Iran (Greco), the Lorincz brothers of Hungary (Greco), and the Kawai sisters of Japan (freestyle) have all made it to the Tokyo 2020 Games together. Yukako Kawai has already won her gold medal (62 kg). Risako will look to follow her sister's lead later in the week when she wrestles for gold herself.

David Taylor has been Dominant in Tokyo: Injury issues have slowed Taylor's freestyle career at times, but his Tokyo 2020 performance is leaving little doubt that he is one of the best wrestlers in not only the United States but the world at large. He is certainly making the most of his first Olympics. So far, Taylor is 3-0 with a trio of technical falls. He has outscored opponents 33-2 and did not surrender a point in two of his three bouts. Should Taylor bring home gold, he will have beaten the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds here in Japan. He has looked like a man on a mission. He will take on the top-seeded Hassan Yazdani of Iran in the finals. Their series record sits at 2-0 in favor of Taylor.

Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan Are Overperforming: While this stat will not hold true by the end of the Games later this week, as of July 4, Ukraine (First/four medals) and Kyrgyzstan are among the Top-5 in all three styles with respect to the  medal count. No matter how long this holds true for, it is still impressive to see Ukraine Kyrgyzstan  holding their own across the board. 



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