Olympics Wrestling Results: August 19 – Jordan Burroughs falls short of medal

Here are the full results from Olympics freestyle wrestling in the men’s 57 kg and 74 kg competitions for Thursday, August 18.

The first day of men’s freestyle wrestling saw a shocking upset early on, and was capped off by a Gold medal match for the ages. It was everything wrestling fans had hoped for, as this day proved more than any other that anything can happen.

In the Round of 16, American Daniel Dennis came up against Vladimir Dubov, who was too much to handle. Dubov dominated from start to finish, picking up 11 points in 90 seconds and winning by great superiority. Dubov would then lose in the semifinal to end Dennis’ medal hopes.

The gold medal match proved to be a flat contest. Both Rei Higuchi and Vladimer Khinchegashvili were put on the clock for passivity. But once Khinchegashvili scored the deciding point in a 3-3 contest, he held off Higuchi’s takedown attempts to eventually win 4-3. After winning silver in London, it was a well-deserved victory for Khinchegashvili, who secured Georgia’s second Gold medal. In the bronze medal matches, both Haji Aliyev and Hassan Rahimi won by pin.

MEDAL RESULT | Men's Freestyle 57 kg

At 28 years old, Jordan Burroughs is the best wrestler in the world at 74 kg. With four titles in the last five years, there’s a reason all he sees is gold. Burroughs was highly motivated to defend his Olympic Gold and make it five in six years. However, his path to get there was far from easy.

The cruel nature of the draw meant Burroughs would face Aniuar Geduev, the world’s second best 74 kg wrestler, in the quarterfinal stage. Not only was this match a repeat of the Cold War, it was also a great chance for Geduev to dash Burroughs’ dreams of Olympic Gold. He did just that, winning 3-2 and ruining the lives of journalists who dedicated thousands of words to the 2012 Gold medalist.

Not all hope was lost, though. Geduev’s semifinal win put Burroughs in the repechage with a chance to go for Bronze. But Burroughs was clearly uninterested in competing for anything but a Gold medal, and he got blown away by great superiority to Bekzod Abdurakhmonov.

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But there were still medals on the line, and the Gold medal match was a classic. Geduev had a cut over his left eye, which caused lots of delays throughout the match. That, plus a 6-0 first period deficit, made it seem like a comeback was insurmountable. But in the second period, Hassan Yazdanicharati rattled off six straight points, the sixth coming with three seconds left, to win by criteria.

In the bronze medal matches, Abdurakhmonov came up agonizingly short against Jabrayil Hasanov. Down 8-2 in the last-minute, he stormed back with five straight points, but couldn’t complete the comeback. Soner Demirtas claimed the other bronze with a 6-0 shutout.

MEDAL RESULT | Men's Freestyle 74 kg

In the end, this is a disappointing result for Burroughs. However, he’s too talented to let this define his career. He’ll no doubt be back with a vengeance for the 2020 Olympics. But any American who did stick around after Burroughs’ exit was still treated to some great wrestling.