Japan’s Saori Yoshida powered to her third successive Olympic freestyle wrestling gold on Thursday, clinching the third gold for her country, who have dominated the women’s freestyle competition.
One of Japan’s most successful athletes, Yoshida defended the title she won in Beijing and Athens, keeping intact her record of never having lost an Olympic or world championship bout.
She has also won nine world titles and with the victory over Canada’s Tonya Verbeek in the 55kg freestyle final on Thursday she equaled the record of 12 global titles set by Russia’s peerless Aleksandr Karelin, who competed in the Greco-Roman discipline.
Photo: Reuters
Japan have won three of the four women’s wrestling medals at the London Games, outstripping the two golds they won at both the Beijing and Athens Games. Japan’s Kaori Icho also won her third consecutive Olympic gold in the 63kg class on Wednesday.
Wearing an electric blue leotard emblazoned with the head of a roaring tiger, Yoshida backflipped across the mat and threw one of her coaches to the floor at the end of the final.
“I was so stressed, more than at the other two [Olympics],” she said. “I really wanted to fulfill my promise.”
Yoshida never looked like losing and did not drop a point at the London Games, despite saying she did not feel at her best.
She won a tense rematch in the semi-final with Valeria Zhobolov, the Russian who stunned the wrestling world by beating Yoshida in a tournament in May.
Yoshida dominated the final, winning the first two rounds in a best-of-three match. With lightning speed, she twice lifted the Canadian and bundled her to the edge of the mat.
Asked if she would defend her title in Brazil in 2016, she said: “I can’t think about that at the moment. It will take some time.”
The night’s other gold medal final saw Natalia Vorobieva of Russia upset Bulgaria’s world champion Stanka Zlateva Hristova in the 72kg weight class.
The Bulgarian, who won silver in Beijing and is a five-time world champion, had to make do with second place once again after Vorobieva took control.
The former world junior champion closed her eyes and kissed the gold medal as she stood on the Olympic podium for the first time, while Hristova looked on in tears.
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Alcaraz suffered a cramp in the third set, but was allowed treatment despite Zverev’s protests, and continued on to win in five-and-a-half hours An ailing Carlos Alcaraz battled past Alexander Zverev yesterday in five epic sets to reach his first Australian Open final and move within a match of becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions to head to tomorrow’s title match. He only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be cramp. He was allowed to have treatment
RSS