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Media feedback on USA Wrestling's historic Olympic performance
by Various Media Outlets
USA Wrestling has read the reviews from the international media and the word is pretty consistent. It was an amazing Olympics for the U.S. wrestling team. A few excerpts:
The Guardian: Team USA’s Tokyo 2020 highlights and lowlights: our writers’ verdicts
Best individual US performance
Gable Steveson. The 21-year-old Minnesotan, named after 1972 Olympic champion Dan Gable and competing in only his second senior-level international tournament, scored a pair of late takedowns in the 125kg final – the second with less than a second remaining – to dramatically turn an 8-5 deficit into a 10-8 victory over Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili and win America’s first heavyweight gold in freestyle wrestling since 1992. Even on a US wrestling team that brings home more medals than any non-host nation in history, Steveson’s star-making run managed to steal the show. BAG
The US’s overall performance was... No 1 in the medal table however you slice it, despite track woes and disappointment in some of the action sports, and mainly thanks to female athletes - nearly 60% of the medals were won by women. The country competed in 44 disciplines and won medals in 28. There were memorable achievements for, among many others, Sunisa Lee, Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Ryan Crouser, Allyson Felix, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. TD
Full Guardian article
USA Today: U.S. wrestling team takes major step with nine medals at Tokyo Olympics
TOKYO -- The U.S. wrestling team left the Rio Olympics with all of three freestyle medals, just as it had eight years earlier in Beijing. The showing in London hadn’t been much better, with the Americans winning five.
To the outside eye, USA Wrestling didn’t seem to have the makings of a program on the rise. But federation officials believed differently.
“We came out of 2016 feeling like we had a lot of momentum,” Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, told USA TODAY Sports. “We thought we had a lot to build on.”
A year later, the U.S. team won nine medals at the wrestling world championships. On Saturday night, Kyle Snyder’s silver in the 97kg class and Sarah Hildebrandt’s bronze in the 50kg class gave the Americans nine medals at the Tokyo Olympics, their most at a non-boycotted Games.
Full USA Today article
Associated Press: USA Wrestling makes statement, leads way with 9 medals
CHIBA, Japan (AP) — Kyle Snyder didn’t get the second straight Olympic gold he sought.
However, United States wrestling still made a statement at these Games.
The Russian Olympic Committee’s Abdulrashid Sadulaev defeated Snyder 6-3 in the men’s freestyle 97-kilogram final on Saturday.
Despite that, the United States finished with nine medals — more than any other nation and the most it has won since the 1984 Games that several nations, led by the Soviet Union, boycotted.
Three Americans won gold — Gable Steveson and David Taylor with dramatic last-second victories for the men and Tamyra Mensah-Stock for the women.
Full AP article
KSBY.com: Tokyo Olympics wrestling in review: USA flips the script, tops medal table
Team USA topped its best medal haul of this century, previously seven in 2000, by claiming nine wrestling medals in Tokyo.
That’s more than any other nation and frankly the total could’ve easily been higher.
In fact, you’d have to go back to 1984 to find an Olympics with more shiny things going home with American wrestlers.
Greco-Roman was a wash, making the freestyle performance from the American men and women wrestlers all the more impressive.
Full KSBY story
NBCOlympics.com: Going for gold: best team USA wrestling gold medal reactions (video)
After years of training and preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the USA wrestling team showed up strong and brought home the hardware. Here's the best moments of when they won wrestling gold medals.
Full NBCOlympics.com video
FloWrestling: 6 Significant Observations From Historic Tokyo Games
WATCHING LIVE MATTERS
Watching wrestling at the Olympics is important, but watching it live is more important. Circumstances might dictate how you watch, but, if you can, tuning in live offers a different perspective and shows a higher level of commitment.
It feels like wrestling is together when we watch it live together. There was a similar feeling when wrestling was nearly kicked out of the Olympics in 2013. It felt like all of wrestling was in one room when they announced that the sport was back.
Staying up late and waking up early was the only option if you wanted to experience the wrestling competition the right way. We may have nodded off a few times, but there’s nothing like being sleep-deprived to show your love of wrestling.
Full FloWrestling story
The Guardian: Team USA’s Tokyo 2020 highlights and lowlights: our writers’ verdicts
Best individual US performance
Gable Steveson. The 21-year-old Minnesotan, named after 1972 Olympic champion Dan Gable and competing in only his second senior-level international tournament, scored a pair of late takedowns in the 125kg final – the second with less than a second remaining – to dramatically turn an 8-5 deficit into a 10-8 victory over Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili and win America’s first heavyweight gold in freestyle wrestling since 1992. Even on a US wrestling team that brings home more medals than any non-host nation in history, Steveson’s star-making run managed to steal the show. BAG
The US’s overall performance was... No 1 in the medal table however you slice it, despite track woes and disappointment in some of the action sports, and mainly thanks to female athletes - nearly 60% of the medals were won by women. The country competed in 44 disciplines and won medals in 28. There were memorable achievements for, among many others, Sunisa Lee, Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Ryan Crouser, Allyson Felix, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. TD
Full Guardian article
USA Today: U.S. wrestling team takes major step with nine medals at Tokyo Olympics
TOKYO -- The U.S. wrestling team left the Rio Olympics with all of three freestyle medals, just as it had eight years earlier in Beijing. The showing in London hadn’t been much better, with the Americans winning five.
To the outside eye, USA Wrestling didn’t seem to have the makings of a program on the rise. But federation officials believed differently.
“We came out of 2016 feeling like we had a lot of momentum,” Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, told USA TODAY Sports. “We thought we had a lot to build on.”
A year later, the U.S. team won nine medals at the wrestling world championships. On Saturday night, Kyle Snyder’s silver in the 97kg class and Sarah Hildebrandt’s bronze in the 50kg class gave the Americans nine medals at the Tokyo Olympics, their most at a non-boycotted Games.
Full USA Today article
Associated Press: USA Wrestling makes statement, leads way with 9 medals
CHIBA, Japan (AP) — Kyle Snyder didn’t get the second straight Olympic gold he sought.
However, United States wrestling still made a statement at these Games.
The Russian Olympic Committee’s Abdulrashid Sadulaev defeated Snyder 6-3 in the men’s freestyle 97-kilogram final on Saturday.
Despite that, the United States finished with nine medals — more than any other nation and the most it has won since the 1984 Games that several nations, led by the Soviet Union, boycotted.
Three Americans won gold — Gable Steveson and David Taylor with dramatic last-second victories for the men and Tamyra Mensah-Stock for the women.
Full AP article
KSBY.com: Tokyo Olympics wrestling in review: USA flips the script, tops medal table
Team USA topped its best medal haul of this century, previously seven in 2000, by claiming nine wrestling medals in Tokyo.
That’s more than any other nation and frankly the total could’ve easily been higher.
In fact, you’d have to go back to 1984 to find an Olympics with more shiny things going home with American wrestlers.
Greco-Roman was a wash, making the freestyle performance from the American men and women wrestlers all the more impressive.
Full KSBY story
NBCOlympics.com: Going for gold: best team USA wrestling gold medal reactions (video)
After years of training and preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the USA wrestling team showed up strong and brought home the hardware. Here's the best moments of when they won wrestling gold medals.
Full NBCOlympics.com video
FloWrestling: 6 Significant Observations From Historic Tokyo Games
WATCHING LIVE MATTERS
Watching wrestling at the Olympics is important, but watching it live is more important. Circumstances might dictate how you watch, but, if you can, tuning in live offers a different perspective and shows a higher level of commitment.
It feels like wrestling is together when we watch it live together. There was a similar feeling when wrestling was nearly kicked out of the Olympics in 2013. It felt like all of wrestling was in one room when they announced that the sport was back.
Staying up late and waking up early was the only option if you wanted to experience the wrestling competition the right way. We may have nodded off a few times, but there’s nothing like being sleep-deprived to show your love of wrestling.
Full FloWrestling story