Blades Advances to Olympic Finals, Maroulis Bronze

Kennedy Blades at Olympic Trials. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com

by Derek Levendusky

PARIS, FRANCE - Team USA’s 76 kg Kennedy Blades advanced to the finals with three victories of her first day of competition. She put on a show in the opening round against Romania’s Catalina Axente with a monstrous double and a match-ending 5-point suplex for a final score of 11-0. In the quarters, Blades pulled off a gritty 4-3 win over Cuba’s Milaimys Marin Portillo.

In the semifinals, Blades showed her world class skills and mental toughness in an 8-6 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy, a match that Blades led at one point 8-2. She had to hold off a storm as Medet came back to make it close at the end, but Blades prevailed. As the clock expired, she was overjoyed and pounded the mat, now an Olympic medalist.

After two wins on Thursday before falling to Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai in the semis, 57 kg Helen Maroulis came back yesterday in a big way, winning bronze match in 24 seconds with a fall over Canada’s Hannah Taylor.

Maroulis became the only American to earn three Olympic medals, second only to legendary Bruce Baumgartner, who earned four. Maroulis won bronze in Tokyo 2020 and gold in Rio 2016.

Sakurai went on to win gold.

62 kg Kayla Miracle fell in the quarterfinals to Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan 6-6. It was a tough pill to swallow as Tynybekova won the tiebreaker due to a 4-pointer. Miracle’s corner had challenged the call that it was a 4-pointer and lost, awarding an additional point to the Kyrgyzstan opponent, a point that ended up being the difference in the match. Tynybekova lost her semi, eliminating Miracle from the Olympic tournament.