Kennedy Blades has the opportunity to earn the USA more wrestling gold on Sunday after she won a challenging semifinal. If she wins her final on Sunday, the United States will have earned a record three women's wrestling gold medals at a single Olympics.
Meanwhile, Zain Retherford lost his 65kg opening match to Iran's Rahman Amouzad, while Kyle Snyder lost his semifinal to Bahrain's Akhmed Magomedovich Tazhudinov later in the evening.
For the first time in more than half a century, the United States will leave an Olympics without a men's wrestling freestyle gold medal.
Headed into competition on Saturday, the U.S. had already secured five wrestling medals during this fortnight in France. The country is now in second place on the medal table with six, thanks to Kyle Dake's bronze.
Here's how it all went down Saturday at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Preliminary matches
Men's freestyle 65kg eliminations
American Zain Retherford did not make it past 2-seed Rahman Amouzad of Iran in the Round of 16. Amouzad beat Retherford, 8-0, then dominated Islam Dudaev of Albania, 11-0, in the quarterfinals.
Amouzad is set to face Iszmail Muszukajev out of Hungary in the semifinal at 12:25 p.m. ET.
The first semifinal will pit Japan’s Kotaro Kiyooka against Cuba's Rivera at 12:15 p.m. ET. Tumur-Ochir upset Armenia’s Vazgen Tevanyan, the top-ranked wrestler in this weight class, 7-5 in the quarterfinal round.
Men's freestyle 97kg eliminations
The top seed in the class, Azerbaijan’s Magomedkhan Magomedov, eliminated the Dominican Republic’s Luis Perez Sosa, 9-0 in the Round of 16. Magomedov won silver at last year’s world championships and, after a 7-2 quarterfinal win over Poland’s Zbigniew Mateusz Baranowski, he is set to face Georgia’s Givi Matcharachvili in the first semifinal bout at 12:35 p.m. ET.
American Kyle Snyder headlines the second semifinal against Bahrain's Akhmed Tazhudinov at 12:45 p.m. ET. Snyder won his first matchup, 9-5, against China’s Awusayiman Habila, and then dominated Arturo Silot Torres of Cuba in the quarterfinal, 5-0.
Women's freestyle 76kg eliminations
In her Olympic debut, Kennedy Blades of the U.S. upset the fourth seed in the weight class, Romania’s Catalina Axente, 11-0 to reach Saturday’s quarterfinal. Blades ended the match with a heavy throw that left Axente down for some time. The Romanian was taken off the mat on a stretcher.
Blades' quarterfinal contest against Cuba’s Milaimys Marin was much closer, but the American came out victorious, 4-3.
Blades will meet top-seeded Aiperi Medet Kyzy out of Kyrgyzstan in the first 76kg semifinal at 12:55 p.m. ET.
Semifinals
Men's freestyle 65kg semifinals
Amouzad continued to dominate the evening sessions, defeating Hungary's Muszukajev 10-0.
Japan’s Kotaro Kiyooka found a way to overcome Puerto Rico's Rivera, though the result was tight: 8-6.
Men's freestyle 97kg semifinals
Georgia’s Matcharachvili ceded nothing to Azerbaijan's Magomedov in the night's first semifinal, winning 5-0. The 27-year-old, two-time world championship bronze medalist heads to the finals.
In the second semifinal, American Kyle Snyder could not find a way to defeat Akhmed Tazhudinov. Snyder surged toward the end to bring the 6-2 deficit to 6-4, but the clock ran out before the American could complete a comeback.
Snyder will have a chance at bronze on Sunday. But with the semifinal loss, the United States leaves an Olympics without a freestyle wrestling gold for the first time since the 1968 Mexico City Games.
Women's freestyle 76kg semifinals
First, Team USA's Amit Elor earned gold after a near-flawless run through her 68kg competition on August 6.
A day later, compatriot Sarah Hildebrandt topped Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman to earn her first gold -- and her country's second women's freestyle wrestling medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Up until then, no two American women had ever earned wrestling gold at a single Olympics.
On Sunday, Kennedy Blades will go for what would be the United States' third gold in freestlye wrestli
This follows her dominant 76kg semifinal against Kyrgyzstan's AIperi Medet Kyzy, in which she came from behind for a hard-fought 8-6 victory -- and a spot in the finals, where she'll compete against Japan's Yuka Kagami.
Medal matches
Men's freestyle 74kg Bronze Medal Matches
After American Kyle Dake lost a hard-fought, high-scoring semifinal on Friday to Japan's Daichi Takatani, 20-12, the 33-year-old battled back on Saturday to defeat Serbia's Khetag Tsabolov, 10-4, for a second Olympic bronze.
The match may be the conclusive exclamation mark to his Olympic career. After winning, an emotional Dake wandered off the mat and into the crowd, hugging loved ones as chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!" echoed throughout the Grand Palais Ephemere at the Champ de Mars.
In the other Bronze Medal Match, Albania's Chermen Valiev -- who lost his quarterfinal to Zhamalov -- found a way to bounce back through repechage. He defeated Tajikistan's Viktor Rassadin, 6-2, for bronze.
Men's freestyle 74kg Gold Medal Match
Uzbekistan scored its first wrestling gold with Razambek Jamalov's decisive victory over Takatani, preventing Japan from widening the gap atop the medal table.
Zhamalov was dominant throughout the final, edging five points while preventing his opponent from even a momentary advantage. Final score: 5-0.
Women's freestyle 62kg Medal Matches
In her Olympic debut, 22-year-old Sakura Motoki trounced Ukraine's Iryna Koliadenko, 12-1, to earn Japan's sixth wrestling gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The country's wrestling gold medal haul is the largest ever from a single Olympics -- eclipsing the five wrestling golds earned in Tokyo 1964 and Tokyo 2020.
Kyrgyzstan's Aisuluu Tynybekova and Norway's Grace Bullen won their Bronze Medal Matches. Tynybekova has competed in four Olympics, the most of any athlete representing her home country (she also earned a silver at the 2020 Tokyo Games); Bullen made Norweigian history by becoming the first female wrestler from her country to win an Olympic medal.
Men's freestyle 125kg Medal Matches
After a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a silver at the 2020 Tokyo Games, Geno Petriashvili of Georgia completed the "podium trifecta" with 125kg freestyle gold in Paris.
A three-time world champion, Petriashvili's victory in the French final was from assured: Iranian opponent Amir Zare and Petriashvili were evenly matched throughout the super heavyweight clash of the titans, but ultimately, the Georgian squeaked by with a 10-9 win.
For silver medalist Zare, it's a second Olympic medal after a bronze in Tokyo. Perhaps he'll follow the path his opponent set and upgrade to gold at Los Angeles 2028?
Bronze medalist Taha Akgul of Iran won gold in Rio, then silver in Tokyo, while the other bronze medalist -- Giorgi Meshvildishvili of Georgia -- made the podium in his Olympic debut.