Gable Takes Gold and Dake Grabs Bronze; Snyder and Hildebrandt Wrestle for Gold and Bronze Tomorrow

Team USA's Gable Steveson takes home a 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games gold medal in his Olympic debut. Steveson won his gold-medal match against 2016 Rio Games bronze medalist Turkey's Geno Petriashvili. Steveson won 10-8. Graphic courtesy of University of Minnesota Athletics. 

As a new session begins (session 12 of 13) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games inside the Makuhari Messe Hall, Team USA is riding a bit of a "heater" and has a lot on the line.

Statistically speaking, the Team USA freestylers are on a roll. Per the Des Moines Register's Cody Goodwin, the USA's men's and women's freestyle teams are currently 27-6 overall, heading into the twelfth session of matches. The squads have now combined to win 10 in a row, starting with Gable's semifinal victory. Furthermore, the men are a combined 13-2 while the women are a combined 14-4.

Leading off the session, Kyle Snyder extended the team's winning streak. The 2016 Rio gold medalist punched his ticket to the Olympic finals after a workman-like 5-0 decision over Turkey's Suleyman Karadeniz. One point via shot-clock, four via step-out. With the win, Snyder is now a two-time Olympic finalist in as many attempts.

Snyder, the No.2 seed, will have a showdown with the tournament No. 1 seed Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia in the finals. The much-anticipated matchup of 2016 Rio Olympic champions (Snyder at 97 kg and Sadulaev at 86 kg). This is the match we all wanted to see. This is the match we all expected to see. The gold-medal matchup will be the third overall matchup of the two 25-year-olds and 2016 Olympic champions. The match will have unofficial "team race" implications. The pair met in the World Championships in 2017 (Snyder won) and (2018 Sadulaev won). The rubber-match will come in the 2020 Tokyo gold-medal finals. 

Down at 50 kg, in our first women's match of the session, USA's Sarah Hildebrandt lost an absolute heartbreaker at the buzzer in her first Olympic Games. The defeat came against China's former World champion Sun Yanan. Much the same way that Sarah's Round of 16 and quarterfinals matchups went, the pride of Granger, Indiana, Hildebrandt,  compiled a 7-1 lead heading into the second period the same way much the same way she did previously (takedown, caution point, and two ankle laces). Yanan's only point of the period came via a reversal of the American.

However, Yanan proved she had ice water running through her veins in the second period, mounting a 10-point comeback. The comeback started with a front headlock for exposure early in the period. Then, with 30 seconds remaining in the match, a takedown, step-out, and a massive four-pointer from at lateral drop at the buzzer beat Hildebrandt 10-7. The heartbreaking defeat sends a stunned Hildebrant to the bronze-medal match tomorrow.

Speaking of Olympic Bronze medals, Kyle Dake completed his run through the repechage, outscoring foes 15-0 to came away with Team USA's third bronze of Tokyo 2020. After a shocking upset in the quarterfinals, Dake rallied and blanked Italy's two-time World champion Frank Chamizo 5-0 in a bronze-medal matchup some thought would be a gold-medal bout. 

In the gold-medal match at 125 kg, Gable authored one of the most exciting comeback performances of the 2020 Games against Geno Petriashvili, a Rio bronze medalist, and five-time reigning World champion (gold in 2017, 2018, and 2019, bronze in 2013 and 2015).

After a shot-clock point, takedown, and step-out, Gable took a 4-0 lead into the second period. It looked like it could be a lopsided affair, but things got wild In the final period. Petriashvili got a crotch lift exposure for two, followed by a Steveson reversal. Now, with the score now 5-2 favoring the American, Petriashvili scored six in a row after a takedown and two turns.

With 13 seconds remaining in the bout and trailing 8-5, Gable recorded an all-time finish, two takedowns of the Georgian star to claim gold in his first Olympic Games at just 21-years-old. The winning takedown was confirmed with roughly 0.2 on the clock. Steveson wins 10-8. It was indeed a historic finish, and Gable is an instant legend.

https://twitter.com/alliseeisgold/status/1423616046838304776

https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1423613245353447426

https://twitter.com/wrestling/status/1423617542552125442

In the final match of session 11 for Team USA, Winchester fell victim to a headlock that sent her to her back, where she fell via fall to Belarus' Vanesa Kaladzinskaya. Winchester takes fifth in Tokyo.

In all, Team USA was 3-2 during session 12. The Red, White, and Blue brought home one god, one brnze, and advanced its remaining two athletes to a gold-medal match and a bronze-medal bout tomorrow. 

Team USA official release – Men’s Freestyle – Gable

Team USA official release – Women’s Freestyle – Hildebrandt

Team USA official release – Men’s Freestyle – Dake



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