Alli Ragan with USA women's wrestling coach Terry Steiner (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)PARIS -- Alli Ragan fell in the gold-medal match and Victoria Anthony was defeated for bronze, but the USA women's wrestling team still tied for second in the team standings at the World Wrestling Championships in Paris, France.
Ragan (60 kilograms) had her hands full with Olympic gold medalist Risako Kawai. Kawai was in attack mode early and often, preventing Ragan from getting her offense going. Kawai's double leg proved to be almost unstoppable to the tune of a 13-0 technical fall, with an added passivity point and few turns on Ragan.
Japan's Risako Kawai won by technical fall over Alli Ragan (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)The Japanese women's wrestling team was well prepared for the competition, placing four wrestlers in Thursday's finals and winning three of those bouts. Japan ran away with the team title and had four gold medalists, as well as a silver and bronze medalist.
"We started out strong and our wheels fell off a little bit," USA women's wrestling coach Terry Steiner said. "They competed hard, but we have some things to work on. We're just not there yet. It's always important to get a team trophy. We're not starting from scratch. We just need to get better at what we do."
American wrestling legend John Smith, an assistant coach and helping the women's team for the first time, is excited about their accomplishments, but would like to see them grow in certain areas.
"I won't accept the fact that (the Japanese team) can't be beat," Smith said. "If we create a better system for our women, like wrestling in college, we can close that gap."
Victoria Anthony lost in the bronze-medal match to Son-Hyang Kim of North Korea (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Victoria Anthony (48 kilograms) lost in the bronze-medal match to a resilient opponent in Son-Hyang Kim of North Korea. Anthony tried everything she could to no avail. Snap downs, low shots and even inside trips, they were all rejected by the defense of Kim. It ended in an 11-1 defeat.
Anthony spoke prior to the match and mentioned that she needed to keep her intensity high and work through every position in every minute of the match and she did just that. The guard of Kim was just too much for Anthony to get through.
At the break, Anthony was facing a 3-0 deficit. But coming out in the second period she was unable to get on her offensive attack. Kim used her defensive strategy to counter Anthony's attacks and was able to mount an 11-1 technical fall.
Constantly wiping tears from her eyes, Anthony spoke about her overall performance.
"There is not much to say … I just need to get better," Anthony said. "It's not what we came here for."
It was Anthony's second fifth-place finish at the World Championships. She was also fifth in 2013 after losing the bronze-medal match.
"I think the Asian countries do a really good job of not reacting (to fakes) and being solid in their stance," Anthony said. "I end up having to pick and choose (on being offensive or defensive), as the match winds down and you're losing time when you pick and choose."
Anthony knows she wants to improve on her performance as this is her second time losing in the bronze medal match, the other time coming in 2013.
Overall, the American women's wrestling team had a strong performance in Paris, finishing with three medals, a gold, silver and bronze.
Helen Maroulis turned in the most impressive performance, winning gold and outscoring her opponents 53-0.
Coach Smith spoke about the potential of her tying his record of four world championships and two Olympic gold medals.
"I'd like to see her beat me," Smith said. "You don't see a real difference between her practice and her competition she's pretty serious with everything she does. But let's let her win her championships one at a time."
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