USA Wrestling celebrates #OlympicDay with fan favorites

In honor of #OlympicDay today, we asked wrestling fans on Twitter what some of their favorite Olympic wrestling moments were.

Here are a few of the memories that were brought up:

In 2000, U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner (left) defeated three-time Olympic gold medalist Aleksandr Karelin of Russia, 1-0, for gold at 130 kg. It is considered one of the biggest upsets in wrestling history as Karelin had been undefeated for 13 years and had not surrendered a single point in the six years prior to the 2000 gold-medal match.

Sticking to the theme of huge upsets, this historic moment happened at last year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeirio, Brazil. Helen Maroulis, representing the U.S. in women’s freestyle at 53 kg, took out 13-time World champion and three-time reigning Olympic champion Saori Yoshida of Japan in the gold-medal match, 4-1. Not only did Maroulis strike down a legend but she also became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold in wrestling.

In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, three American freestyle wrestlers won gold on their home soil.

Kendall Cross (right) defeated Guivi Sissaouri of Canada, 5-3, at 57 kg, Tom Brands (left) dominated South Korea’s Jang Jae-sung, 7-0, at 62 kg, and Kurt Angle (middle) took the 100 kg title over Iran’s Abbas Jadidi, 1-1, despite a severe neck injury.

In 1972 at the Munich Games, Dan Gable produced one of the most dominant Olympic performances in history, winning the 68 kg weight class without giving up a single point. The returning World champ suffered a knee injury and received seven stitches in his head in his first match of the tournament, but that didn’t slow him down. Gable notched three falls and two decisions en route to Olympic gold.

In 2004, Cael Sanderson (middle) won freestyle gold at 84 kg. He ran through tough opponents from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Iran and Cuba before facing Moon Eui-jae of South Korea in the finals. Eui-jae took silver at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Sanderson defeated the two-time Olympic finalist, 3-1.

21-year-old Henry Cejudo won the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Wrestling at 55 kg, Cejudo forced his first three bouts to the third period after losing the first period in each match. In the finals, facing Japan’s Tomohiro Matsunaga, Cejudo took the win in the first two periods to become the youngest American wrestler to win Olympic gold.

In 2016, Kyle Snyder took over as the youngest American wrestler to win Olympic gold at 20 years old. He edged out Azerbaijan’s Khetag Gazyumov in a 2-1 victory. A year prior, Snyder became the youngest World champion in American wrestling history.

In 2012, Clarissa Chun became USA’s fourth Olympic medalist in women’s wrestling, earning bronze in London. After falling to Maria Stadnyk of Azerbaijan in the second round, Chun fought back, winning two more matches, including a 1-0, 3-0 win over Irinin Merleni of Ukraine in the bronze match.

Another memorable bronze-medal performance came from J’den Cox at the 2016 Olympics. In the 86 kg semifinals, Cox dropped a heartbreaker to Turkey’s Selim Yasar, 2-1. He came back in the repechage to defeat Reineris Salas Perez of Cuba, who, in the last six seconds of the match, refused to finish out the match, trailing Cox on criteria, 1-1.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their favorite moments. Keep sharing your memories with us on Twitter @USAWrestling using #OlympicDay. We’ll retweet our favorites!