Olympics

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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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

U.S. Performances

  • GR: G’Angelo Hancock (1-1) 7th, Ildar Hafizov (0-2) 12th, Alejandro Sancho (0-1) 10th, John Stefanowicz (0-1) 12th
  • WFS: Tamyra Mensah-Stock (4-0) Gold, Adeline Gray (3-1) Silver, Sarah Hildebrandt (3-1) Bronze, Helen Maroulis (3-1) Bronze, Jacarra Winchester (2-2) 5th, Kayla Miracle (0-1) 12th
  • MFS: Gable Steveson (4-0) Gold, David Taylor (4-0) Gold, Kyle Snyder (3-1) Silver, Kyle Dake (3-1) Bronze, Thomas Gilman (2-1) Bronze

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Olympic Games preview at 125 Kg in Men’s Freestyle: Petriashvili, Akgul are Gold medalists that young U.S. star Steveson may battle

Since 2014, the heavyweight bracket has been won by either Geno Petriashvili of Georgia or Taha Akgul of Turkey. They will be on opposite sides of the bracket in Tokyo with Petriashvili holding the No. 1 seed and Akgul entering as the No. 3 seed.

Petriashvili is the three-time reigning World champion, winning gold in 2017, 2018, and 2019. He also picked up bronze medals at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships as well as a bronze in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Additionally, he was a 2017 U23 World champion and 2013 Junior World champion.

Entering his third Olympic Games, Akgul is the returning Olympic champion with a gold-medal performance in Rio. It was his third-straight gold after winning World titles in 2014 and 2015. Since then, he earned silver medals at the 2017 and 2019 Worlds, falling to Petriashvili in tight bouts, 10-8 and 6-6, respectively. Akgul’s resume also includes a bronze from the 2013 World Championships.

In a good position to make some waves at the weight is Gable Steveson of the United States, who will compete at his first Olympics at just 21 years old. To make the U.S. Olympic Team, he dominated two-time Senior World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski with back-to-back technical falls. While he hasn’t competed much at the Senior-level internationally, Steveson has some major international credentials at younger age-groups, including 2015 and 2016 Cadet World titles as well as a 2017 Junior World gold. At the Pan American Championships earlier this year, Steveson sailed through the field to win the bracket. Currently, Steveson wrestles at the University of Minnesota, where he won the 2021 NCAA title at heavyweight. He will enter the tournament unseeded, which is a problem for the rest of the field. Continue reading at teamusa.org →