To analyze this Vinesh Fugat would not be misplaced At 50kg, she first reached the final of women’s wrestling and won the gold medal in Paris Olympics. Yui Suzaki losing 82-0 with only gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics Olymics is equivalent to a win for her quarterfinals gold.
At the final whistle, both Vinesh and Susakhi could not believe it. After that, she bashed the mat and lay on it before tears ran down her cheeks wondering how God had thought of this – from demonstrations in the streets to an open path towards podium amid unbeaten road recovery following surgery done last year which saw her being moved from rehab rooms to sparring sessions as well as forced to switch to lighter weight categories.
Despite hardships in life she kept going on
The first reaction after losing on Susaki’s face was that when another girl’s hand was raised by the referee, she did not know what it meant. She had never felt that way before meeting Vinesh at Paris where there always has to be something at stake during international matches for her career.
That is all. A victory with three points versus two of Sarah Hildebrandt which made Vinish advance and then beat Ukraine’s former European champion Oksana Livach in a quarter-final match and Cuban Pan American Games champion Yosnelis Lopez Guzman in a semi-final bout, thereby becoming India’s first-ever female Olympic finalist wrestler.
The medal was secured, but more importantly, six minutes would seal being India’s first woman individual Olympic gold winner?
And Suzaki found consolation too. Vinesh running into the final brought Japan back into contention with a bronze medal finish.
Nowadays only one person can prevent Vinish from becoming an Olympic champion – Sarah Holderbrandt (the USA) who has impressive achievements among other competitors in their overall records.
Who is Sarah Ann Holdbrandt?
Sarah, 30 years old, who took fourth place at the Tokyo Olympics and became the four-time medalist of the World Cup in wrestling began her international career in 2013 in the category up to 55 kg, having become the first Pan American champion among juniors at the age of 19.
Wrestling was chosen by Sarah against her parents’ will. Thanks to a letter from their parents to her school explaining about some wrestling skills of their daughter they let Sarah start practicing this sport. Paris Olympics website.
That is why she turned out to be her mother’s sparring partner during trainings
“When I started wrestling, my mom would come over and watch practices, just me and the coach, and I would end up wrestling with her. This lovely woman would let me beat her at 5:30 in the morning for my progress,” said Sarah Pan According to Paris Olympics website she is America’s defending champion and bronze medalist from Budapest world championships held in 2023 as well as scheduled for summer 2024.
Sarah has shifted weights within these divisions since entering international arena as an athlete eleven years ago – from 55kg through 53kg till today’s class of hers which is fifty-kilogram weight.
The way for Sarah into finals
In her first step towards Paris she defeated Algerian Ibtissem Doudou with technical superiority (10-0).
In quarterfinals against China’s Feng Ziqi, who clinched bronze at World Championships held in Budapest two years ago (7-4).
The semi-finals, she easily outclassed Mongolia’s Otgunjager Dolgozav, who won silver at the 2023 World Championships, by 5-0.
Sarah’s Wrestling Ritual and Flashcards
Before she entered the competition, Sarah listened to a lot of AC/DC and her exit number was called “Thunderstruck.”
Sarah who trains at U.S Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado has an interesting ritual when studying opponents that is making flash cards about them.
“I made flash cards like I was in school on my opponents and I would study them either in the sauna or somewhere else like that,” she said before coming to Paris in an interview with flo wrestling.
“Just looking back at what their first tie was, which detour I wanted to take, what moves they might make frequently, some of my last no-nos like, ‘We don’t even do this’… it’s just a way of letting You keep it fresh because I want my wrestling to be the main star when I step on the mat and that’s the main thing I focus on.”
“Obviously I’ll be ready.” There are things I’m going to do that I’m not going to do against other people. So just having an idea like let’s do a circle after the whistle or they’re going to do that after the whistle .
“When things start happening, it just happens naturally.”
On Wednesday this will not be Vinesh’s career biggest game. Also Sarah will be fighting for her inaugural Olympic gold medal. This will be competitive.
