David Taylor wins Olympic Wrestling Gold Medal
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – Former Nittany Lion wrestling great David Taylor is an Olympic Champion. Taylor won Olympic Gold at the 2020 Tokyo games with an epic performance in the finals early Thursday morning to claim the title. Taylor is one of many Nittany Lion Wrestling Club wrestlers competing in Tokyo and the first to grab a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics.
Taylor met Hassan Yazdani of Iran for the Olympic title at 86 kg. He fell behind 1-0 early and trailed by that score at the break. Taylor fell behind 2-0 on a push-out with just under 3:00 to wrestle and then tied the bout 2-2 at 2:10 with a takedown. Yazdani took a 3-2 lead on another push-out with just 1:38 left, a lead that held to the :20 mark when Taylor made his move. The former Nittany Lion moved through a strong double that led to a takedown and a 4-3 lead as the clock neared :10. Taylor’s second takedown, the only two in the bout, clinched the gold medal in the 4-3 victory.
Taylor advanced to the gold medal match by winning his first three matches at 86 kg, all by technical superiority. The four-time All-American, two-time NCAA champion downed Ali Shabanou of Belarus 11-0 in the opening round. He then took down former Michigan Wolverine Myles Amine, wrestling for San Marino, 12-2.
Taylor handled India’s Deepak Punia in the semifinals, quickly posting a 10-0 tech to advance to the gold medal bout. the session that begins Thursday morning at 5:15 a.m. Eastern, with the medal matches set to start closer to 6:30 a.m. Eastern.
Nittany Lion Wrestling Club grappler Thomas Gilman wrestled for bronze at 57 kg. Gilman left no doubt against Iran’s Riza Atrinagharchi, rolling to an impressive 9-1 win to claim the bronze medal, the first of the tournament for the NLWC’s entrants in Tokyo.
Gilman earned a spot in the medal round by rolling to an 11-1 technical superiority over Uzbekistan’s Gulomjan Abdullaev in the Repechage. The NLWC grappler nearly took down two-time world champion Zavur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in his opening round match-up. Gilman lost a last second decision 5-4 decision to the man who went on to win the gold medal.
Olympic Champion Helen Maroulis, with Sunkist Kids in Tokyo and who qualified for the 2020 Olympics training with the NLWC, won a bronze medal at 57 kg with a resounding 11-0 tech over Mongolia’s Khongorzul Boldsaikhan. Maroulis lost a hard-fought 2-1 decision to Japan’s Risako Kawai in the semifinals at 57 kg in women’s freestyle. Maroulis won her first two matches, 8-4 over Ningning Rong of China and 8-0 over Tetyana Kit of Ukraine.
The Nittany Lion Wrestling Club had two of its wrestlers meet each other in the first round at 74 kg. Bekzod Abdurakhmonov, wrestling for Uzbekistan, downed Franklin Gomez, wrestling for Puerto Rico, in the first bout for each respective NLWC competitor. Abdurakhmanov then fell to the ROC’s Zaurbek Sidakov 13-6 in the next round.
Abdurakhmanov will compete in the Repechage at 74 kg as Sidakov advanced to the finals. Bekzod’s continued quest for a medal continues at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight (Thursday). Olympic Champion and Nittany Lion Club wrestler Kyle Snyder will begin his 97 kg bracket tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern (Thursday) as well.
The NLWC’s Jane Valencia, competing for Mexico and the woman to every qualify for women’s freestyle wrestling from Mexico, lost a 5-2 decision to Valeria Koblova (ROC) in her first bout and did not get pulled into the Repechage at 57 kg. Franklin Gomez’s Olympics also ended when Abdurakhmonov lost in the quarters.
