Kyle Snyder, Sarah Hildebrandt Round Out Team USA Wrestling Medals
Wrestling has concluded at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and Kyle Snyder and Sarah Hildebrandt bring home silver and gold respectively. The two cap off what is perhaps the best team effort from Team USA in the Olympics ever. Team USA brought home nine medals in total; three gold, two silver, and four bronze across men’s and women’s freestyle. Unfortunately Team USA blanked in Greco Roman which makes the medal count that much more impressive.
Kyle Snyder and Sarah Hildebrandt Rounding Out Team USA
Kyle Snyder, former Olympic champion, fell to Russian great Abdulrashid Sadulaev who moved up in weight to challenge the American. The two met in the 17 and 18 World Champions splitting a pair of wins. The rubber match was highly anticipated going into the Games and Sadulaev took the match 6-3. Snyder took his first three matches by a score of 23-2 beating Turkey’s Suleyman Karadeniz, Canada’s Jordan Steen and Italy’s Abraham Conyedo. Snyder adds silver to his 2016 Olympic gold medal in Rio.
Sarah Hildebrandt dropped a semi final to eventual silver medalist, Sun Yanan. Hildebrandt defeated Ukraine’s Oksana Livach by technical superiority with a score of 12-1. Hildebrandt’s run was spectacular. Her opening match was an 11-0 tech fall of Turkey’s Even Demirhan who was bronze in the 17 World Championships. She then dominated Bulgaria’s Miglena Selishka 12-2. Then she dropped the Yanan fight and the rest, well was the thing Olympic champs do: win.
Team USA and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Team USA in wrestling did well in the Olympic Games, bringing more medals home then they have in history. David Taylor, Gable Steveson, and Tamyra Mensah-Stock all brought home gold for the US. Adeline Gray and the aforementioned Snyder brought home silver. Rounding out Team USA’s success, Thomas Gilman, Kyle Dake, Helen Maroulis, and Hildebrandt won bronze.
Team USA’s success came in men’s and women’s freestyle but they blanked in Greco-Roman failing to medal at all. Several stories for Team USA were truly spectacular. From Hildebrandt’s return from injuries, to Taylor and Steveson’s last minute wins and Mensah-Stock’s history making win, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been a success for Team USA Wrestling.
