Mensah-Stock Gold in Tokyo
Tamyra Mensah-Stock (pictured here at the 2019 Pan Am Games), got to raise the U.S. flag in Tokyo. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com
by Derek Levendusky, AWW writer
Tamyra Mensah-Stock became only the second woman ever to win a gold medal for the United States at the Olympic Games, defeating Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu in the finals. Helen Maroulis was the first in Rio in 2016. 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 stormed to the finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
It was #1 vs. #2 when Mensah-Stock faced off with Nigerian hammer Blessing Oborududu of Nigeria in the Olympic finals. Mensah had previously owned a 3-0 record over the Nigerian. Mensah scored first about a minute into the final with a front head go-behind, but gave up a reversal on a failed turn after she got the takedown. She scored again deep in the first with a high crotch leg attack to make it 4-1 at the break. That would be all the scoring as Mensah held off Oborududu’s attacks in the second to win the match 4-1.
”I’m feeling very happy, and I keep trying not to cry,” said Mensah-Stock-Stock after the match. “When I first started wrestling [in 10th grade] I knew I could be an Olympic champion.”
“If my father were here, he would be so happy,” she added through more tears, as her father passed away in a car crash when she was in high school. Mensah’s extended family watched the finals together in Florida. After her match, Mensah-Stock also spoke about her faith in God driving her through journey to Olympic gold.
The wrestling community seemed to figuratively stand in applause for the one-of-a-kind American, a beloved personality in U.S. wrestling.
”What an amazing match,” said 2012 gold medalist Jordan Burroughs in the NBC studio after the match. “Welcome to the [gold medal] club. All her dreams have been realized…[her performance at the Olympics] is as close to flawless as you can get. She’s a dominant wrestler.”
Oborududu defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova in earlier rounds and two-time world champion Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia 7-2 in her semi to make the final. Zhumanazarova won the bronze by fall over Soronzonbold in their bronze medal match.
In the first round, Mensah-Stock started her Olympic career with a 10-0 dismantling 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. 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 where she would win the gold medal.
Cherkosova won the second bronze medal with a win over Dosho.