Gray Takes Silver, Mensah-Stock Makes Olympic Finals
Mensah-Stock (pictured here at 2019 Worlds) advances to Olympic finals. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com
by Derek Levendusky, AWW writer
76 kg Adeline Gray faced Germany’s Aline Rotter Focken, the #2 seed and 2014 world champion in the Olympic finals, falling to her long-time friend 7-3.
Focken scored first with a shot clock point, then countered when Gray shot late in the second for an exposure to lead 3-0 at the break. Focken continued putting points on the board, countering another shot by Gray with a 4-pointer to lead it 7-0. Gray finally got on the board late in the second with a pushout to make it 7-1. She scored again with about 40 seconds on the clock to make it 7-3, but it was too little too late as Focken ended on top 7-3.
Gray finally adds an Olympic medal to her illustrious career, now an Olympic silver medalist to add to her five world titles and two world bronze medals.
“This will sting for a while for Adeline,” said Jordan Burroughs, commenting on the NBC team. “But eventually she’ll see what an accomplishment this is. A lot of people are still excited for her.”
Mensah-Stock in finals
After the heartbreak of 2016, when Tamyra Mensah-Stock made the Olympic team but the U.S. failed to qualify the weight, the 68 kg Mensah-Stock has stormed to the finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In the first round, Mensah-Stock started her Olympic career with a 10-0 drumming of defending Olympic champ Sarah Dosho of Japan. She continued her dominance in the quarters with a 10-0 tech fall over China’s Feng Zhou, scoring in the first 11 seconds and not looking back until she finished off the match early in the second period.
In the semis, Mensah-Stock faced Alla Cherkosova from Ukraine who was 5that the World Championships in 2019. Mensah-Stock struck first, gaining a 2-0 lead at the break with a go-behind in the first period. Cherkosova struck next, climbing to a 4-2 lead with a front head throw by and gut wrench turn. The Ukrainian almost got a second turn when Mensah stepped over a second gut attempt and gained an exposure to go ahead 4-4 by criteria. From then on it was all Mensah-Stock. She scored on a leg attack and immediately transitioned to a turn to make it 8-4. There seemed to be a non-call on an additional 2 right before the mat official put them back on their feet. Mensah scored again late when Cherkosova failed on a jersey roll and the American stopped motion for a final 2-point exposure. In the end, Mensah won it 10-4, advancing to the finals and guaranteeing at least an Olympic silver medal.
It’ll be the #1 vs. the #2 seed when she faces #2 seed Blessing Oborududu of Nigeria in the Olympic finals who defeated Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia 7-2 in the other semi.