Olympics

American Gable Steveson wins wrestling gold medal in 125kg class at Tokyo Olympics

CHIBA, Japan — With 10 seconds remaining, Gable Steveson trailed the biggest wrestling match of his life by three points.

When the clock hit zero, he was an Olympic gold medalist.

Steveson trailed Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 8-5 with time running out. The 21-year-old American remained composed and took control against his more experienced opponent, scoring on a spin-behind takedown with 10 seconds remaining and then another with less than a second remaining to win the men’s freestyle 125-kilogram class final 10-8 on Friday night.

Steveson held up two fingers for two points after the move, but even he couldn’t believe what happened.

“I looked at the clock and it was like 0.3,” Steveson said. “And I was like, ‘Ain’t no way.’ And my head just like flushed with everything. And I was like, ‘Wow.'” Continue reading at www.espn.com →

Gable Steveson Claims Olympic Gold in Dramatic Fashion

One of the most dramatic comebacks in Olympic history leads Gable Steveson to the Olympic crown

MINNEAPOLIS – In what could be remembered as the greatest wrestling match in the history of the Olympic Games, Gable Steveson came from behind in the last thirteen seconds to knock off three-time World Champion Geno Petriashvili (GEO) and become an Olympic gold medalist.

The showdown between the two giants, which started just after 6:30 am CST, began relatively slowly considering the pace that Gable had portrayed throughout his first three matches. Both men were feeling each other out for about the first minute, which Gable showed a bit more initiative to score than Petriashvili.

About halfway through the opening frame, the Georgian was put on the shot clock first and looked comfortable with handing away the passivity point as he continued to dissect Gable’s game. Shortly after, it was Steveson with the first real offensive attempt, snatching Petriashvili’s left leg and finishing with a trip to make it 3-0.

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Gable Steveson can add $250,000 to US wrestlers’ prize haul with a gold medal

U.S. wrestler Gable Steveson will participate in the men’s freestyle 125kg final Friday at the Tokyo Olympics, where he will compete with pride and honor in representing his country.

He’ll be competing for 250,000 other reasons, too.

Steveson, also a wrestler for the University of Minnesota, stands to cash in big with a gold medal, thanks to award programs in place that pay out stipends to athletes who make it to the podium.

Fellow American wrestlers David Taylor (86kg freestyle men’s) and Tamyra Mensah-Stock (68kg freestyle women’s) already earned the $250,000 top prize for American wrestlers when they each won a gold medal in their respective events. Three other freestyle wrestlers have also won medals. Continue reading at usatoday.com →

Gable Steveson Rolls to Gold Medal Match in Tokyo

The United States heavyweight will look to cement himself as the world’s best on Friday morning

MINNEAPOLIS – If there was any uncertainty about Gable Steveson’s ability on a worldwide stage before these Olympic Games, those doubts have been all but eliminated after Steveson passed his first Olympic test with flying colors, going 3-0 on the day and outscoring his opponents 23-0.

Starting in the Round of 16, Steveson squared off against Aiaal Lazerev of Kyrgyzstan for Olympic debut match, dominating from start to finish by scoring five quick takedowns to secure a 10-0 victory via technical superiority in just under two minutes.

The win set up a showdown in the quarterfinals with an opponent who was expected to be one of Gable’s largest tests of the tournament: Taha Akgul (Turkey), a two-time World champion, and the reigning Olympic gold medalist. However, instead of the narrow contest that was expected, again it was Gable who rolled towards another dominant victory.

Steveson secured the first takedown of the contest early in the first period to go up 2-0, and continued to put the pressure on after the break with three more takedowns in the second period, including two takedowns off reattacks from Akgul shots, to run away with the 8-0 win.

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Gable Steveson cool, confident going into biggest wrestling matches of his life

Two days before traveling to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics, Gable Steveson was playing one of those concocted games often seen in a high school gym class.

The Gophers wrestling room was serving a dual purpose as the padded field for a game of “speed ball” before the real practice began on July 15. The wrestlers had divided into two teams — shirts vs. skins — and their heavyweight wasn’t a lumbering also-ran.

At one point in the rec game, a shirtless 275-pound Steveson went across the middle and made a juggling catch before quickly zipping a pass to a teammate for an easy score. Continue reading at twincities.com →

Dake, Steveson and Winchester receive draws for day 5 of Olympic Games

Three more U.S. Olympic wrestlers—men’s freestyle wrestlers Kyle Dake (Ithaca, N.Y./Spartan Combat WC/Titan Mercury WC) at 74 kg, Gable Steveson (Minneapolis, Minn./Gopher WC RTC) at 125 kg and women’s freestyler Jacarra Winchester (Colorado Springs, Colo./USOPTC/Titan Mercury WC) at 53 kg—have received their draws for Olympic Games competition.

Competition begins Thursday at 11 a.m. local time (Wednesday at 10 p.m. U.S. ET).

Dake drew No. 4 and 2016 World bronze medalist at 70 kg seed Mostafa Hosseinkhani from Iran, who most recently earned a gold medal at the 2021 Poland Open.

Dake is unseeded. The other seeded athlete in his half-bracket is No. 1 seed and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Frank Chamizo of Italy, who won World titles in 2015 at 65 kg and 2017 at 70 kg. He also won silver at the 2019 World Championships. Continue reading at teamusa.org →

Gable’s Quest For Gold: An Olympic Preview

Minnesota heavyweight Gable Steveson will look to do what no Gopher wrestler has ever done: bring home a gold medal

MINNEAPOLIS – Olympic wrestling is set to get underway at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo as Minnesota heavyweight and 125kg U.S. Olympic Team member Gable Steveson looks to cap his first Olympic experience at the top step of the podium wearing the gold medal.

Wrestling competition will take place from Friday, July 31 to August 7 at Korakuen Hall on the Olympic campus, however Steveson will have to wait until Wednesday, August 4 until he is able to toe the line at center circle.

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