Ukraine Wins Olympic Silver in Freestyle Wrestling
Ukrainian wrestler Iryna Kolyadenko brought Ukraine its fifth silver medal of the 2024 Olympic Games. She became the second in the 62kg freestyle wrestling category.
This was reported by Suspilne Sport.
On the first day of competitions in Paris, Kolyadenko, the current bronze medallist, won three victories in a row and for the first time in her career got into the fight for Olympic gold.
The Ukrainian's victory in the semi-finals was the most high-profile: Kolyadenko took revenge for her defeat in Tokyo 2020 by convincingly defeating the top seed, Kyrgyzstan's Aisuluu Tynybekova, with a score of 9:2.
Source: Ukrainian Wrestling Association on Facebook
In the final, Kolyadenko fought against Sakura Motoki of Japan, the second seed in the tournament. The reigning world vice-champion scored three early victories on the first day of the competition: she put her opponents to sleep twice, and once defeated Canadian Ana Godinez 11-0 before the end of the first period.
Kolyadenko opened the scoring at the end of the second minute of the fight, as Motoki lost a point for passivity. With three attacks by the end of the period, the Japanese seized the lead and went ahead 6-1.
During the break, the Ukrainian side successfully challenged Motoki's last two points of the period, and the final three minutes of the fight were 4-1 in favour of Sakura.
During the second period, Motoki increased its advantage and brought the score to 12-1 - Kolyadenko lost the fight early and finished the Olympics with silver.
This is the highest medal for Ukrainian wrestlers at the Olympics since 2004.
Ukraine currently ranks 21st in the medal standings of the Games in Paris. The Ukrainians have won 12 medals.