2021 Olympic champion David Taylor (Photo courtesy of Larry Slater; LBSphoto.smugmug.com)Come back with me, if you will, to Carioca Arena 2 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which housed the wrestling competition at the 2016 Olympics. This was almost five years ago now. The United States won just three medals that week, but two of them were historic.
The first: Helen Maroulis, America's first-ever Olympic gold medalist in women's freestyle. She secured her spot in USA Wrestling lore by recording a 4-1 victory over Japan's Saori Yoshida, a 16-time world and Olympic champion.
The second: Kyle Snyder, America's youngest Olympic gold medalist, at age 20. Just one year removed from his first world title, Snyder defeated Azerbaijan's Khetag Goziumov, 2-1, in the final match of the wrestling competition in Rio.
“The sport of wrestling, it's a fight,†Bruce Burnett, then the U.S. men's freestyle head coach, said afterward. “The gold medal in the last match of the tournament, that's putting us on a plane forward, and I feel really good about it.â€
Not sure anybody back then could've seen all the good vibes that were on the way.
That leads us back to Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, Japan. On Saturday morning, USA Wrestling put the cap on a truly special week at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Consider these accomplishments:
The women's freestyle team brought a full squad of six, and left with four medals. Before the week began, USA Wrestling had only ever won five Olympic medals all-time. This year's women's team nearly matched that, as a fifth wrestler, Jacarra Winchester, fell in the bronze-medal match at 53 kilograms.
“It's a special time to be part of USA Wrestling,†Sarah Hildebrandt said afterward. “It's just really cool to be a part of, and I'm so grateful to have these teammates. I really feel like we are out here supporting each other, working to get better.
“I think that's something that's been different than before, and you can see it starting to pay off. It's a special team -- we knew that coming in, and I'm so excited to be a part of what we put together.â€
Again, an absolutely sensational week for USA Wrestling. The vibes were good, and they arrived early and often each day.
The men's freestyle and women's freestyle teams combined for a 31-9 overall record. The men went 16-3, the women went 15-6. The only wart all week came from the 4-man Greco-Roman squad, who limped to a 1-5 mark and failed to win a medal for the third-straight Olympics. We will discuss that performance at a later date.
In the 31 freestyle wins, 13 technical falls and 17 shutouts. The men's team collectively outscored their opponents by a combined 144-39, and two of their three losses were by four total points, both to eventual gold medal winners from Russia (Thomas Gilman lost 5-4 to Zavur Uguev and Snyder lost 6-3 to Abdulrashid Sadulaev; the other: Kyle Dake's 11-0 loss to Belarus' Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau, who made the final).
At one point, the U.S. wrestlers won 11 straight matches, starting with Gable's semifinal win on Thursday morning and running all the way to Kyle Snyder's semifinal win on Friday morning. They won those 11 matches by a combined 90-8, good vibes for an entire 24 hours.
In those 11 matches, the U.S. sent two wrestlers to the finals (Gable and Snyder), won three medals (Gilman won bronze, Taylor won gold, Helen won bronze), and three more reached medal matches (Dake and Jacarra both won in the repechage, and Sarah Hildebrandt won in the quarters to guarantee at least a bronze-medal match).
That 11-match win streak was really part of a larger run by the United States' freestyle wrestlers. Starting with Tamyra's finals victory on Tuesday morning, U.S. wrestlers rattled off an astounding 25 wins over their final 32 matches in the tournament.
There was really only one rough day in the entire competition for the United States, and that was Monday. Adeline lost in the gold-medal match, 7-3 to Germany's Aline Rotter-Focken, early in the morning, then Kayla Miracle, John Stefanowicz, and Alejandro Sancho all lost at night and were eventually eliminated.
That proved to be a blip on the radar. Tamyra became an Olympic champion, and the rest of her American teammates followed her lead. Every U.S. wrestler that took the mat after she won gold either won a medal or wrestled for one.
“I. Am. A. Champion. I was born for this, I was made to win,†Tamyra sang afterward in her since-viral post-finals interview with NBC Sports. “I love it!â€
Perhaps the most revealing part of Tamyra's interview -- which was just as incredible as her on-the-mat performance, by the way, and you should totally watch it if you haven't already -- was her answer that came right after her singing.
“Did you think you would ever win an Olympic gold medal?†the reporter asked.
“Yes,†Tamyra answered immediately. “100 percent yes, I knew I could do it. I knew it would be hard. I prayed that I could do it. In my wildest dreams, I knew.â€
That was a memorable line in an outstanding interview because of the confidence that was on display with every word. That feeling matriculated through the entire team, and it showed in their performances.
On Wednesday, Gable thumped Taha Akgul, the 2016 Olympic heavyweight champion. On Thursday, Gilman and Helen completed their medal runs in dominant fashion, winning their bronze bouts 9-1 and 11-0, respectively. David Taylor's electrifying gold-medal match against Iran's Hassan Yazdanicharati was sandwiched between them, wherein he connected on a blast-double with 10 seconds left to win, 4-3.
“I don't really even know if it was technique, but I wanted to win,†Taylor said. “I wanted to win an Olympic gold medal. I wanted that my entire life, and I'm maybe not going to have an opportunity to do this again.
“I believe I'll have more opportunities, but you never know. It feels really good.â€
The next day, more good vibes. Snyder and Sarah stormed into the semifinals, Dake battled back for bronze, and Gable topped Taylor's thrilling gold-medal victory by producing one of his own, scoring two takedowns in 13 seconds to defeat Georgia's Geno Petriashvili, the three-time defending world champion.
“I knew I had it in me,†Gable said, before repeating: “I knew I had it in me. Everybody talks about bringing home a gold medal, and I did it.â€
He did, at just 21 years old, the youngest wrestler on a USA Wrestling squad that isn't all that old, to begin with. Only three of the 11 freestyle wrestlers are currently 30. These guys and gals are still young, very much in the prime of their careers. There's every reason to believe they'll be around for a while longer.
Then again, we saw at the U.S. Olympic Trials that a youth movement is afoot. Both Adeline and Tamyra held off high-schoolers in the best-of-three finals. Young stars like Vito Arujau, Daton Fix, and Spencer Lee, all accomplished age-level freestylers, will push Gilman in the years ahead. There are seemingly tons more names at every weight.
Those three medals the U.S. won in Rio don't seem like a lot after the haul they earned this week, but Burnett, USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender, and many others told anybody who listened then that bigger things were coming. Perhaps they were the only ones who could have predicted the 9 medals in Tokyo.
None of us will have to wait very long for the next big opportunity. The 2021 world championships in Norway are just two months out, and the 2024 Olympics in Paris will be here before we know it.
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