J'den Cox with his Olympic bronze medal (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)RIO DE JANEIRO -- Both J'den Cox and Tervel Dlagnev made it into the bronze-medal round at the 2016 Olympics Saturday, but only Cox will leave Rio with any hardware in a match that ended in bizarre fashion ... but in favor of the University of Missouri mat champ.
In his quest for bronze in men's freestyle at 125 kilograms/275 pounds, Dlagnev, a two-time NCAA Division II heavyweight titlist at University of Nebraska-Kearney, was shut out by Georgia's Geno Pertriashvili ... while Cox claimed bronze at 86 kilograms/189 pounds when Cuba's Reineris Salas Perez protested a call against him, refusing to wrestle with just seconds left in the match.
Mizzou mat champ medals
The last match of the day for Cox, a 21-year-old who will starting his senior year at Missouri, had an ending that would have to rank as one of the strangest in seven days of wrestling in Rio.
Cox led Salas Perez 1-0 well into the second period and was placed on the shot clock with just over one minute to go. The Mizzou Tiger secured a double leg on the Cuban as the shot clock expired. Initially, Salas Perez was awarded the go-ahead point with six seconds remaining in the match. After official review Cox was awarded a takedown and a 3-0 lead. Salas Perez saw he was returning to the match with a deficit, signaling he was not going to wrestle, despite pleas from his coach. He started down the steps off the raised mat platform. Because he did not finish the match out of protest, Salas Perez was disqualified. The final score was a win for Cox by disqualification at 5:54 ... giving the U.S. its first men's freestyle medal of the Rio Games.
Despite never having wrestled in international competition until this summer, Cox was impressive at the Olympics; he never had a takedown scored upon him. The Columbia, Missouri native started his Saturday with a 7-1 win over Amarhajy Mahamedau of Belarus ... followed by a 5-1 victory over Iran's Alireza Mohammed Karimimachiani. In the semifinals, Cox lost a frustrating 2-1 decision to Selim Yasar of Turkey.
"It was awesome to know that I accomplished a great feat," Cox said after winning the bronze. "That wasn't my goal. I am not going to say that I accomplished my goal because my goal was to win gold. I am not bitter about it. I am happy. I accomplished a great feat, and so many people never get the chance to even come close to taste it. I got to taste it. I enjoy it and am very happy about it."
Tervel Dlagnev opened with a win over Jamaladdin Magomedov of Azerbaijan (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Disappointment for Dlagnev
For the 30-year-old Dlagnev -- a native of Bulgaria who came to Texas with his family as a kid -- it was his second trip to the Olympics. And, as with the 2012 London Olympics, Dlagnev, placed fifth after Georgia's Pertriashvili -- the top-ranked big man in men's freestyle -- secured a 10-0 technical fall to win in the bronze-medal match.
Dlagnev had won his first two matches Saturday -- a 6-5 victory over Jamaladdin Magomedov of Azerbaijan, followed by a 3-2 win over Poland's Robert Baran. However, in the semifinals, Dlagnev's persistent back injury became an issue, as he lost 10-0 to Iran's Komeil Ghasemi, then fell by the same score to Petriashvili in the bronze-medal bout, ultimately placing fifth at 125 kilos.
"Yeah, it's a bummer," Dlagnev said after his last match of the day. "It has been a slow fade. I am not sure about my body. I wasn't planning on wrestling out there (in the bronze-medal bout). I kind of got talked into going out there. Hopefully it means something to somebody.
"I didn't work out one day of training camp. My back locked up right when I got on the plane to leave to the Olympics. It has been a year fade. I made the Trials, but since then I have had five practices in the last four months. I have been just holding on, holding on hopefully for one big day. It didn't go my way."
Dlagnev, now a member of the coaching staff at Ohio State, is a two-time world bronze medalist, two-time Olympian and four-time World Team member for the U.S. He wrestled for a bronze medal in every World Championships and Olympic Games in which he competed.
Abdulrashid Sadulaev with the Russian flag after winning Olympic gold (Photo/Martin Gabor)Medal results at 86 kilos
In the gold-medal match at 86 kilos, top-ranked Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia got a 5-0 shut-out win over Turkey's Selim Yasar. The 20-year-old Russian phenom, who outscored his opponents 28-1 on Saturday, now has an Olympic gold medal to go with two world championships.
In addition to Team USA's J'den Cox, the other bronze-medal winner was 2012 Olympic gold medalist Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan. He scored a 5-1 win over Pedro Ceballos Fuentes of Venezuela for his second consecutive Olympic medal.
Medal results at 125 kilos
As with the 86-kilo weight class, the gold-medal winner at 125 was also ranked No. 1: Taha Akgul of Turkey. The two-time world champion defeated 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Komeil Ghasemi of Iran, 3-1.
In addition to Georgia's Petriashvili, the other heavyweight to win bronze in Rio was Ibrahim Saidau of Belarus, who scored a 2-2 victory by criteria over Armenia's Levan Berianidze.
Sunday will feature the last day of men's freestyle competition at the 2016 Olympics, as two Big Ten champs -- Penn State alum Frank Molinaro, and current Ohio State star Kyle Snyder -- take to the mats at 65 kilograms/143 pounds and 97 kilograms/213 pounds, respectively.
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