Great Things Are Expected
Sunday, August 1st
By James O’Brien
One salient detail to address before we get started: without question, the wrestling venue has the best music. In the hour or so before the competition kicked off this morning, we had everything from John Lennon (Plastic Ono Band era) to Marc Bolan (T-Rex era) to some other stuff that I have forgotten but that was really good. It set the stage, it must be said, for a good day in the Makuhari Messe Event Hall A.
The day got all the better when Adeline Gray stepped on to the mat for the first bout on the first day of Olympic wrestling competition. A five time world champion, the NYAC woman arrived in Tokyo with something to prove. In Rio, five years ago, she had entered the competition as a powerful favorite only to suffer a surprise defeat in the quarter-final, eventually placing seventh. It is no exaggeration to say that that experience still rankles. Asked about the Rio result by a Japanese journalist, the generally loquacious Adeline stated, “Next question. Let’s move on.” But Gray’s mission has been writ large. She spent 2017, the year following the Rio Games, recovering from injury; then, in the seasons leading to Tokyo, captured two further world titles to add to the three she held going into Rio. The best in the world, five times over; that’s quite a legend to carry. Even so, there remained a point still to prove.
Even in an arena devoid of spectators and atmosphere, Gray is charismatic to watch. She exudes focus and intensity, attributes that she applies to devastating effect. That was in plain sight in her very first bout today, versus Zaineb Sghaier of Tunisia, the African champion. And, from the outset, there was no question about how this one was going to go; “perfunctory” comes to mind. For those of you who enjoy the details, Gray won with a pin, 2:11 into the bout.
That win put the NYAC woman into the quarter-finals against 2017 world champion, Yasemin Adar of Turkey. 2017, you will recall, was the post-Rio year, the one that Gray sat out in order to heal up. Even so, as world champ vs. world champ, it was to be expected that this would be anything but a stroll in the Imperial Palace. What could have been predicted was that Gray would come out strong. She did, scoring two takedowns to lead 4-0 at the break (after three minutes of wrestling). Gray added a single leg takedown in the second period for a 6-0 lead. Adar fought back and made it close towards the end, scoring a takedown and an ankle lace turn. But, as the buzzer sounded, the score was 6-4 in favor of the American.
Gray’s delight was evident, this victory putting her into the semis where she was drawn against Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan. I’m fairly sure that “O’Brien” is a tongue-twister in many languages; so, maybe it’s not my place to say. But, “Kyzy”? I’ve got no idea. I guess we can leave that to the TV people.
In her quarter-final bout, Kyzy had scored an impressive 12-0 technical fall over 2012 Olympic champion, Natalia Vorobieva of the Russian Olympic Committee, meaning that, if they weren’t already, things were about to get real.
Having negotiated those two bouts in the morning, Gray had several hours to wait until her next round, scheduled for some time after 6pm. I presume she spent her time staying loose, re-focusing, getting ready to warm-up all over again. Me? I spent six or more hours sitting in a darkened, cavernous arena, writing, proofing, editing, watching medics perform some kind of a drill, trying to turn off the sound on the several TVs nearby that were emanating an ear-splitting wail, contemplating how to say “Kyzy,” various things like that. The time passed quite pleasantly.
By the time the semis got going, however, I was as ready as Adeline. Were she to prevail in this round, her next bout would be for the gold medal. The semi was a more cautious affair than the quarter-final. Gray received the first point of the match when Kyzy was cited for passivity and could not score in the required 30 seconds. The winged footer scored a second point when she got behind Kyzy and forced a step out. That meant that, at the break, Gray was up 2-0. Things heated up in the second period; there was an active scramble on the edge of the mat which ended up being waved off with no points. The Kyrgyzstan corner challenged and, after a review, the challenge was denied, giving Gray another point for a 3-0 lead. Kyzy scored a takedown to narrow the score to 3-2, but that was as close as it got. At the buzzer, the score remained the same, meaning that the next stop for Gray is the final. In that round she will face 2014 world champion, Aline Rotter Focken of Germany. A medal is guaranteed, though Gray has made no secret of her mantra: “From Gray to Gold.” That final will be held tomorrow, Monday, at 8.00am EST. It will be worth the early rise to witness this epic battle.
In addition to Gray going for gold tomorrow, discus thrower Valarie Allman will seek to claim the Club’s first ever Olympic medal by a female in this event. The greatest Olympic discus thrower in history, Al Oerter, stated, “Great things are expected of you when you wear the winged foot.” Words to compete by.