2012 Olympics • Greco-Roman 121 pounds

2012 Olympics • London, England

Aug. 5 • Greco-Roman Tournament

Highlights of Spenser Mango, 55 kilos / 121 pounds

LONDON — Spenser Mango of St. Louis, Mo., did not place at 55 kilos / 121 pounds when he lost two of three matches in the Excel Center.

Spenser Mango (left) could not defend in par terre against 2011 World champion Rovshan Barymanov of Azerbaijan. (John Sachs image)

Mango, who was competing in his second straight Olympics, opened the tournament with a 6-1, 1-0 victory over Abouhalima Abouhalima of Egypt. Unfortunately, the member of the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program, suffered two straight losses: a 4-0, 4-0 setback to 2011 World champion Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan in a Round of 16 bout, and then a repechage (consolation) match to Russia’s Minglyan Semenov, 2-0, 1-0.

“I defended good for twenty-some seconds,” said Mango about his match with Semenov, who scored all his points in the par terre phase of each period. “He switched to a higher lock and got into my ribs and I turned. He’s good competitor.

“Working hard is all I can do and come back in 2016.”

Spenser Mango (right) scored five of his seven points against Egyptian Abouhalima Abouhalima in a preliminary match. (John Sachs image)

Match-by Match Highlights

Prelim — defeated Abouhalima Abouhalima (Egypt), 6-1, 1-0 — Mango jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fifth 50 seconds of the first period when he first slipped behind for a two-point takedown plus exposure points before adding a gut wrench for two more points.

In the second period, Mango defended the Egyptian’s par terre advantage for a point.

“That was a good start to the day,” Mango said. “You wake up, you get that first one out of the way. That first one’s the toughest, especially for me, I’m a slow starter. You want to just get the ball rolling and carry that momentum.

Round of 16 — lost to Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan), 4-0, 4-0 —

Bayramov won the first period when he made the most of par terre and turned Mango twice on gut wrenches. In the second period, a bear hug put Mango on his back 33 seconds in the frame an gave him a quick 3-0 lead before holding Mango there for the fourth point.

Repechage — lost to Minglyan Semenov (Russia), 2-0, 1-0 — All the points came in the par terre phase of each period with the Russian scoring off the advantage with seven seconds left in the first period before Semenov scored the only point in the second frame by defending par terre.