Kyle Snyder gets his hand raised after winning the Olympic gold medal (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)RIO DE JANEIRO -- Kyle Snyder concluded the men's freestyle competition at the 2016 Olympics in Rio Sunday by winning the gold medal at 97 kilograms/213 pounds at age 20, becoming the youngest man in U.S. freestyle competition to be crowned an Olympic champion.
Just missing out on a bronze medal was Team USA's Frank Molinaro, who placed fifth at 65 kilograms/143 pounds in the last day of wrestling in Rio, just hours before the Closing Ceremonies.
Golden Buckeye
Snyder, an NCAA Division I wrestling champ at Ohio State, grabbed the gold by defeating eight-time World and Olympic medalist Khetag Goziumov of Azerbaijan, 2-1, in the championship match at 97 kilos.
Immediately after winning the gold, Snyder -- who will be returning to the Buckeyes as a junior this fall - said, "It was a tough match. I wrestled that guy like a month ago and he beat me, so I'm happy that I've been able to improve on that performance, and, I keep saying it, I'm really thankful and grateful that I've even had this opportunity wrestle and my family and friends have been down here, to share it with them."
To be in contention for the gold, Snyder defeated a trio of opponents: Cuba's Javier Cortina, 10-3 ... Romania's Albert Saritov, 7-0 ... and Georgia's Elizbar Odikadze, 9-4.
It's been an incredible past 12 months for Snyder. In that time frame, the Maryland native won a World title, an Olympic gold medal, and his first NCAA title, defeating the defending heavyweight champ, Nick Gwaizdowski of North Carolina State, and snapping his 88-match win streak. The last U.S. wrestler to rack up World, Olympic and national collegiate titles in the same amount of time was John Smith, six-time World and Olympic champion, who is now head coach at Oklahoma State.
The 20-year-old Snyder is now the youngest U.S. man to win Olympic gold in wrestling, edging out Henry Cejudo, who earned his gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games at age 21. What's more, Snyder becomes the 50th U.S. men's wrestler to have earned an Olympic gold medal. He is first Buckeye wrestler to compete at an Olympics since 1992, and the first Olympic wrestling champion for Ohio State since Harry Steel in 1924.
Ohio State head wrestling coach Tom Ryan, in Rio for the Olympics, said, "(Snyder) said at 5 years old he was going to win an Olympic gold medal. He did it. An amazing performance."
A number of Buckeye mat champs weighed in with congratulations via social media.
Logan Stieber, four-time NCAA champ for Ohio State, wrote, "Captain America. Kyle Snyder. Olympic champion"... while Lance Palmer, newly crowned World Series of Fighting featherweight champ posted this on Twitter: "I'm so happy for this kid. He put in the work and became World, NCAA, and Olympic champ all in one year. At 20 yrs old!" Snyder's teammate Myles Martin, 2016 NCAA champ at 174 pounds, simply said, "Speechless!"
Snyder himself wasn't speechless upon winning the ultimate prize in amateur wrestling.
"I've been super emotional at times on the mat when I'm wrestling. I think it's just, maybe I was in shock. I don't know. I was definitely really happy, happier than I've ever been on a wrestling mat," said Snyder.
Snyder joins fellow Maryland native Helen Maroulis as Team USA gold medalists for the 2016 Rio Games. Maroulis became the first U.S. women's freestyle wrestler to win an Olympic championship, at 53 kilograms/116.5 pounds. Team USA wrestlers earned the same number of gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, with Jordan Burroughs and Jake Varner claiming championships in men's freestyle four years ago.
Molinaro just misses bronze
Frank Molinaro made it to the bronze-medal match at 65 kilos, falling to top-ranked Frank Chamizo of Italy, 5-3, in a back and forth battle that came down to the final seconds, when what appeared to be a takedown on the former Penn State champ was not scored.
"He is such a good wrestler," Molinaro said of his Italian opponent after his final match of the Olympics. "Solid. Fighting out there to win. He works as hard as I am. Sometimes it just comes down to inches. I have been very fortunate and blessed to be on the good end of a few of those. It was just his day."
Molinaro was two-for-two for the day, beginning with a 2-2 criteria win over European champ Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (Poland) ... followed up by a shut-out loss to two-time Olympian Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan, 10-0. The 27-year-old New Jersey native then revived his hopes for a medal with an 8-5 win over Ukraine's Andriy Kvyatkovskyy which propelled him into the bronze-medal round.
"It has been an amazing experience," said Molinaro, who was a four-time NCAA All-American - and 2012 NCAA champ - for Penn State. "Bruce (Burnett) and Cody (Sanderson) have taken me from not every knowing how to wrestle freestyle to being one of the best guys in the world. I just had another son while I was out here. I am not going home with the bronze medal, but I am going home to a healthy boy, two healthy boys, and a great life. I am still happy."
Former Spartan champ Gomez loses on controversial call
Franklin Gomez, former Michigan State wrestler who won the 133-pound crown at the 2009 NCAAs, suffered a heartbreaking loss representing Puerto Rico at the Olympics Sunday, losing in 65 kilo quarterfinals to Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan.
Here's how the official Spartan wrestling website described that match:
"The quarterfinal match action started with an early 2-0 Gomez advantage, before Navruzov countered with three points to take a 3-2 lead after the first period. Gomez opened the second and final period with a point to level the score at 3-3, but Navruzov later took a 5-3 lead. In the final minute, Gomez evened the score at 5-5 and then later appeared to score on a four-point move, but the referee signaled a two-point takedown for Navruzov. Gomez and his coaches challenged, and after a review of the match officials, the challenge was denied and the review resulted in another point for Navruzov for an 8-5 lead that remained to the end of the match."
Criticism of the officiating -- and cries of foul -- lit up the internet.
United World Wrestling was forced to respond, announcing the suspension of three referees - one each from South Korea, Russian, and Georgia -- along with a full investigation by the governing body for wrestling's Ethical Commission.
Gomez was born in the Dominican Republic; however, after the death of his father, moved to Puerto Rico with his mom when he was a child. In high school, mother and son first relocated to New Jersey, then later to Florida, where he won a state title at nationally-ranked Brandon High School.
Controversial call leads to strip show on the mat
Coaches who believe their wrestler has been jobbed by a bad call have been known to hurl obscenities, shoes and even chairs at mat officials. This may be the first time that clothes came into the equation.
In the final seconds of a contentious bout for a bronze medal at 65 kilos, Mongolia's Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran thought he had defeated Iktiyhor Navruzov of Uzbekistan - yes, the same wrestler who was awarded the victory over Franklin Gomez. Since Mandakhnaran was no longer wrestling Navruzov - despite their being time on the clock - mat officials awarded Navruzov a point, putting him ahead as the time ran out.
Mongolia immediately protested. When the protest went Uzbekistan's way, the two Mongolian coaches jumped on the mat and laid down, pleading with the officials to change their decision. When the referees didn't reverse their decision, the coaches started angrily stripping off their clothes. One coach peeled off his jacket and shirt, while the other one took off everything but his underwear and socks. The video received tons of play online, and was the only wrestling-related footage on the NBC Nightly News' 6:30 p.m. Eastern broadcast on the network granted exclusive coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Medal results at 65 kilos
In the gold-medal match at 65 kilos, Russia's Soslan Ramonov - ranked No. 2 in the world - decimated 2012 Olympic champion Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan, 11-0.
In addition to Italy's Frank Chamizo (who defeated Frank Molinaro), the other bronze medalist at 65 kilos was Uzbekistan's Navruzov who edged Mongolia's Ganzorig, 8-7, in the match that ended with Mongolian coaches stripping off their clothes in anger over the controversial officiating.
Frank Molinaro placed fifth.
Medal results at 97 kilos
In addition to Team USA's Kyle Snyder being awarded the gold medal in this weight class, two other wrestlers earned bronze medals: Uzbekistan's Magomed Ibragimov, who earned a 6-4 decision over 2012 Olympic silver medalist Valerii Andriitsev of Ukraine ... and Albert Saritov of Romania, scoring a 10-0 technical fall over Elizbar Odikadze of Georgia.
Sunday was the eighth and final day of wrestling -- and all sports competition -- at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. For wrestlers with dreams of scoring Olympic hardware, their next opportunity will be the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
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