Minnesota’s Gable Steveson wins gold in Olympic 125 kg event
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American Gable Steveson has defeated Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 10-8 to claim wrestling gold in the men’s freestyle 125-kilogram class.
Georgia challenged the final points, to no avail. Steveson, as is customary after his biggest wins, celebrated with a backflip.
Steveson became the first Gopher wrestler in program history to bring home an Olympic gold medal.
Steveson, who is from Apple Valley, outscored his opponents 23-0 in the first three rounds. He rolled past 2016 Olympic gold medalist Taha Akgul 8-0 in the quarterfinals.
Petriashvili, the No. 1 seed, is a three-time world champion who was an Olympic bronze medalist in the class in 2016. He led Steveson 8-5 in the final minute, but couldn’t handle the 21-year-old’s quickness late.
United States' Gable Dan Steveson celebrates after defeating Georgia's Gennadij Cudinovic during their men's freestyle 125kg wrestling final match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Chiba, Japan.[AP Photo/Aaron Favila]
Akgul defeated Mongolia’s Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur 5-0 in a bronze medal match.
Iran’s Amir Dare defeated China’s Zhiwei Deng 5-0 in the other bronze medal match.