Adeline Gray Advances to Olympic Finals, Guarantees Medal
Adeline Gray (pictured here at 2019 Worlds) will wrestle for gold at the 2020 Olympics. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com
by Derek Levendusky, AWW writer
Twitter: @AWWderek
TOKYO, JAPAN - Adeline Gray got things started in a big way for Team USA women as she advanced to the Olympic finals early Sunday morning with a dramatic razor thin 3-2 win over Elmira Syzdykova of Kazakhstan in the semis, guaranteeing a medal for the five-time world champion and for Team USA. Gray failed to make the podium in her first Olympic experience in Rio in 2016, making the accomplishment all the sweeter.
Things started Saturday night with an 11-0 fall over Tunisia’s Zaineb Sghaier with a first period fall. Advancing to the quarterfinals, she faced 2017 world champion Yasemin Adar of Turkey. After Gray built up a 6-0 lead late in the second, Adar scored a takedown and transitioned to a tight leg lace. A second turn, and a criteria lead for Adar, seemed imminent when action was blown dead out-of-bounds, preserving a 6-4 lead for Gray. With less than 15 seconds on the clock, Gray held off a final leg attack by the Turk to advance to the semifinals.
In the semis, Gray squared off with #4 seed Elmira Syzdykova of Kazakhstan, who took 5th at Worlds in 2019. Syzdykova dominated Russian star Natalia Vorobeva, the 2012 Olympic champion, in the quarters 12-0 to make the semi. Gray built up a 2-0 lead deep in the second with a shot clock point and push out point, when the Kazakhstan corner challenged on a non-call with action on the line. Gray had been precariously close to giving up a go-behind but seemed to successfully defend the attack, which is how the officials called it. The British announcer on NBCOlympics.com rightly said, “If Gray loses the challenge that would certainly put the cat among the pigeons.”
But the Kazak wrestler lost the challenge, giving Gray the 3-0 lead, and more importantly, the cushion to withstand a takedown and still have the lead, which is exactly what happened. Syzdykova scored 2 on a single leg attack, locked up a leg lace and nearly got a turn, but failed to get the points she needed to take the lead. With short time on the clock, Gray would hold on to win 3-2 and advance to the Olympic finals. She raised her hands and screamed with joy as the moment sunk in.
Gray will face Germany’s Rotter Focken, the #2 seed, who defeated Japan’s Hiroe Minagawa 3-1 in a chess match.
Notably, 2016 Olympic champion Erica Wiebe of Canada was eliminated on Saturday night when the opponent that beat her, Epp Maeeof Estonia, lost to Japan’s Hiroe Minagawa in the quarters.