Hildebrandt also makes history with her first Olympic gold

Photo: Sarah Hildebrandt showed her American pride after the Indiana native won the 50-kilogram championship in women’s freestyle at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. (Justin Hoch photo)

By Tristan Warner

PARIS – It was another historic night of wrestling for Team USA in Paris’ Champ de Mars Arena Wednesday, as Sarah Hildebrandt became the fourth American woman, all-time, to win an Olympic gold medal.

This simultaneously marked the first Olympic event, since the inaugural women’s tournament in 2004, in which two American women won gold medals in women’s wrestling.

WIN editor Bryan Van Kley (left) and assistant editor Tristan Warner are in Paris all week covering the Olympics. Click on photo to watch Wednesday’s recap of the Games.

Morning dramatics loom over Champ de Mars Arena

The dramatic morning hours came with controversy, as Hildebrandt’s intended opponent, Vinesh Phogat, failed to make weight and was disqualified from the tournament.

Hildebrandt was initially informed that she would be receiving a forfeit in the finals and thus had won the gold medal by virtue of successfully weighing in under 50 kg.

The celebration ended as quickly as it began, however, when the UWW put out a statement saying Cuban Yusneylis Guzman, who had been defeated by Vinesh in the semifinals, would be fast-tracked to take Vinesh’s place in the gold-medal match against Hildebrandt in Champ de Mars Arena.

“I was preparing for chaos but that was not on my bingo card of chaos,” Hildebrandt said with a smile, shortly after the native of Granger, Ind., beat Guzman, 3-0 for the championship. “We were under the impression that it was a forfeit, so there was a lot of celebrating; it was very strange. ‘Oh my, I just won the Olympics.’ And then like an hour later it was like, ‘you did not win the Olympics.’ So there had to be like a reset. It was so weird. I had to just shift back into this focus mindset, and that’s what we did.”

Sarah Hildebrandt becomes fourth USA women’s Olympic gold medalist

Hildebrandt, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, confidently took to the mat as the finale of the evening, scoring a first period takedown and passivity point to go up 3-0 at the break.

Sarah Hildebrandt (left) needed just one takedown to beat Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman in the 50-kilogram championship. (Justin Hoch photo)

Despite lots of quick fakes that kept her Cuban foe on her toes, Hildebrandt coasted to a controlling 3-0 victory to clinch her first Olympic gold medal and the second gold for the American women in as many days.

This marked the first time in history that the American women achieved multiple gold medals in one Olympic event (with three USA women more yet to take the mats between Thursday and Sunday), joining Amit Elor, the 2024 gold medalist at 68 kilograms.

Hildebrandt explained that not needing to win gold is the very thing that helped her actually win it.

“It feels so surreal right now,” she said. “It’s hard to answer that (what it feels like) because things strangely change, and I think that’s actually why I was successful today, because I didn’t need it (to win gold). I was finally able to release the medal, and now it’s here. So, I think I’ll just keep on being Sarah, surrounded by the people who helped make me, me.”

Parrish pulled back into repechage to vie for bronze medal

Dominique Parrish was defeated by fall in the first-round match of her 53-kg women’s freestyle action on Wednesday morning at the hands of third-seeded Akari Fujinami (Japan), the two-time World champion.

Dominique Parrish (back) will compete in repechage after losing to World champ Akari Fujinami of Japan. (Justin Hoch photo)

But Parrish was pulled back into the repechage (consolation) bracket after Fujinami stormed through quarterfinal and semifinal opponents, earning another fall and 10-0 technical fall, respectively.

Parrish will take the mats during Thursday’s morning session at 11 a.m. local time/5:00 a.m. ET against Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia). The winner of that match will set up for a bronze medal showdown against Qianyu Pang (China) during Thursday’s evening session.

Greco-Roman ends Olympics with no medals

Joe Rau, the 97-kilogram Greco-Roman representative for Team USA, who had been pulled back into Wednesday’s repechage after suffering a loss Tuesday morning, was defeated 9-4 by Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (Kyrgyzstan).

“Joe had a great performance,” USA Greco coach Herb House commented. “He went out there and gave it all he had. That’s all anybody would expect out of Joe. At the break, we told him it’s never over till it’s over.

Payton Jacobson only wrestled one match in Greco-Roman as the team failed to win a match in Paris. (Justin Hoch photo)

“That’s the kind of mentality I want out of the whole U.S. team. Push yourself and give yourself an opportunity to stay in the match. That’s the energy I want from my guys as they’re out there wrestling.”

Rau, a native of Chicago, echoed his coach’s sentiment, reiterating he felt he threw everything he had at his seasoned counterparts.

“I don’t like the term ‘no regrets’ because there are always things you wish you could have done different,” he said. “I wish I would have chosen a different chain of attacks from my last-ditch effort with 12 seconds left. I threw everything I had at him, and he kind of was starting to defend some things, so it was hard to know what to go with, and I ended up in a bad position.

“I’m very disappointed with the result, but I’m really grateful for everybody here.”

Payton Jacobson, who competed for Team USA at 87 kilograms in his first Olympic appearance Wednesday morning, suffered a 10-0 loss to Aleksandr Komarov (Serbia), the seventh seed.

Jacobson’s repechage hopes were shattered when Komarov lost a tightly contested quarterfinal match to second-seeded David Losonczi (Hungary).

Overall, the four American Greco-Roman wrestlers combined for an 0-5 record while failing to bring home a medal. The last time USA earned a Greco medal was by Adam Wheeler in 2008.

Maroulis, Lee, Brooks receive draws for Thursday

Three Americans will take the mats Thursday for Team USA as men’s freestyle gets underway.

Helen Maroulis, the first American to win a gold medal in women’s wrestling at the 2016 Rio games before adding a bronze in Tokyo in 2021, enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed at 57 kg and will face 2023 World silver medalist Anshu Anshu (India).

Spencer Lee, competing at 57 kilograms in men’s freestyle, was randomly drawn into the bracket and will square off against No. 6 Wanhao Zao (China), whose made three World championship appearances and placed fifth in 2022.

Aaron Brooks, the former Penn State four-time NCAA champ and 2024 Hodge Trophy recipient, who will represent Team USA in men’s freestyle at 86 kilograms. The native of Maryland will face top seed Azamat Dauletbekov (Kazahkstan), a 2022 and 2023 World bronze medalist.

Familiar names surface as former NCAA wrestlers represent other nations

Roman Bravo-Young, who captured two collegiate crowns for Penn State in 2021 and 2022, will represent Mexico at 57 kilograms in men’s freestyle. The Tucson, Ariz., native will face No. 2 seed Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia) and resides on the same side of the bracket as Lee.

Meanwhile, Darian Cruz former 2017 NCAA champion from Lehigh, will represent Puerto Rico in the 57 kg bracket as well. Cruz will battle Gamol Mohamed of Egypt in round one.

Former Michigan five-time All-American Myles Amine, a returning World bronze medalist and 2021 Olympic bronze medalist, will represent San Marino in the 86-kilogram men’s freestyle bracket and slots in as the No. 3 seed. Amine drew a first-round matchup against Vasyl Mykhailov (Ukraine).

Yet another former NCAA All-American in the Olympic field, Ethan Ramos, the former national semifinalist from North Carolina, will also represent Puerto Rico in men’s freestyle at 86 kg.  Ramos entered the bracket unseeded and will wrestle No. 7 seed Dauren Kurugliev (Greece).

Wednesday’s Full Match Notes:

Greco-Roman

87k – Peyton Jacobson

R16 – lost by TF to Aleksandr Komarov (Serbia), 9-0 – The former five-time World age-group champ, originally from Russia, jumped on top with a four-point throw in the first minute. Komarov then ended the bout from passivity par terre with a gut wrench and a caution-and-2 against Jacobson for fleeing. Jacobson was eliminated when Komarov lost his next match to David Losonczi of Hungary. Team USA ended up going 0-5 in Greco overall and the four wrestlers were outscored, 35-7.

97k – Joe Rau

Repechage – lost to Uzur Dzhuzupbekov (Kyrgyzstan), 9-4 — Dzhuzupbekov clinched this consolation win over Rau with a four-point throw in the final 10 seconds. That ended a strong second-period rally by the Chicago native, who scored his four points off a passivity point, two more from a leg foul and another on a pushout with 25 seconds left. Dzhuzupbekov led 5-0 at the break after he lifted and threw Rau from par terre for four points after a passivity call against the American midway through the first period.

Women’s Freestyle

53k – Dominique Parrish

R16 – lost by fall to Akari Fujinami (Japan), 6-0, 2:05 – In a battle between former World champs, Fujinami caught Parrish on her back shortly after the Japanese wrestler scored a second single-leg takedown. Parrish was pulled back into the repechage and will face Mongolian Khulan Batkhuyag during Thursday morning’s session.

50k – Sarah Hildebrandt

GOLD MEDAL MATCH — dec. Yusneylis Guzman (Cuba), 3-0 — A bronze medalist three years ago in Tokyo, the native of Indiana claimed Team USA’s fourth all-time gold medal. She scored the bout’s only takedown with 1:46 left in the first period, then added a passivity point against Guzman, who was an unexpected finals opponent.

India’s Vinesh Vinesh, who had earned the gold-medal match on Tuesday, failed to make weight Wednesday morning and was disqualified.