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| Event type

Middleweight, Freestyle (≤63 kilograms), Women

Date 8 August 2012
StatusOlympic
LocationExCeL, Newham, London (North Arena 2)
Participants20 from 20 countries
FormatSingle elimination tournament. Competitors losing to the finalists entered repechage tournament for bronze medals.

There was only one favorite in the women’s middleweight freestyle wrestling event at the 2012 Summer Olympics: Kaori Icho of Japan. Aside from a forfeit at the 2007 Asian Championships, the Japanese wrestler had won her last 149 matches, held the only two Olympic crowns in the event (2004 and 2008), and was a seven-time World Champion, having won the event in every tournament since 2002, with the exception of the oddly-held 2008 edition and 2009, when she had taken a break from wrestling. No other competitor came close to matching her dominance. She breezed through the tournament to meet Jing Ruixue of China in the final, who had been World Champion in the non-Olympic 67 kg division in 2006 and 2007, runner-up in the middleweight in 2005, and a bronze medalist at the most recent edition. The battle for the crown was almost no contest: Icho had the first round won by the first thirty seconds, having already scored three points on Jing. In the second period, Icho reversed a near-takedown by the leg to score one point and scored another in the final twenty seconds, giving Japan both wrestling medals of the day, following Hitomi Obara’s earlier victory in the flyweight division.

The bronze medal matches were somewhat less one-sided. Canadian Martine Dugrenier, thrice World Champion (2008, 2009, and 2010) and thrice runner-up (2005, 2006, 2007) in the 67 kg category, fought in her second Olympics as a middleweight competitor, but had the misfortune of drawing against Icho in the first round. In the battle for the bronze medal she put up a good fight against Soronzonboldyn Battsetseg of Mongolia, the 2010 World Champion in the 59 kg class (also non-Olympic), but was unable to match her opponent’s skill or score any points, losing 0-2 and 0-1 and giving Mongolia its first Olympic medal in wrestling since 1980. The battle for the final podium spot was perhaps the most hard fought, pitting Monika Michalik of Poland, twice bronze-medalist at the World Championships (2006 and 2007) and thrice gold medalist at the European Championships (2003 in the 59 kg division, 2005, 2009), against Lyubov Volosova of Russia, three-time World Championship runner-up (2001 in the 56 kg class, 2008, 2009) and once bronze medalist (2010) and twice European Champion (2006 at 56 kg, 2010). The first round went to par terre, where Michalik drew the advantaged position and scored on her opponent. Volosova had her revenge, however, outscoring the Polish wrestler in the second period 3-1 and converting the advantage in a third-round par terre to win the bronze.

PosWrestlerNOC
1Kaori IchoJPNGold
2Jing RuixueCHNSilver
=3Soronzonboldyn BattsetsegMGLBronze
=3Lyubov VolosovaRUSBronze
=5Monika MichalikPOL
=5Martine DugrenierCAN
7Yuliya OstapchukUKR
8Katerina VidiauxCUB
9Anastasija GrigorjevaLAT
10Henna JohanssonSWE
11Marianna SastinHUN
12Choe Un-GyongPRK
13Aysuluu TynybekovaKGZ
14Elena PirozhkovaUSA
15Yelena ShalyginaKAZ
16Elif Jale YeşilırmakTUR
17Jacira MendoncaGBS
=18Maria DunnGUM
=18Blessing OborududuNGR
20Sylvie Tara-AgoueCAF

Round One (8 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to round two. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round one.

Match #1 Sylvie Tara-AgoueCAF Bye
Match #2 Soronzonboldyn BattsetsegMGL Bye
Match #3 Anastasija GrigorjevaLAT Bye
Match #4 Elena PirozhkovaUSA Bye
Match #5 Aysuluu TynybekovaKGZ Bye
Match #6 Henna JohanssonSWE Bye
Match #7 Martine DugrenierCAN Bye
Match #8 Kaori IchoJPN Bye
Match #9 Choe Un-GyongPRK Bye
Match #10 Jing RuixueCHN Bye
Match #11 Monika MichalikPOL Bye
Match #12 Blessing OborududuNGR Bye
Match #13 Lyubov VolosovaRUS Maria DunnGUM Fall (1:09)
Match #14 Katerina VidiauxCUB Elif Jale YeşilırmakTUR Fall (1:56)
Match #15 Yuliya OstapchukUKR Yelena ShalyginaKAZ Fall (3:31)
Match #16 Marianna SastinHUN Jacira MendoncaGBS Decision by shutout (4 - 0)

Round Two (8 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to quarter-finals. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round one.

Match #1 Soronzonboldyn BattsetsegMGL Sylvie Tara-AgoueCAF Fall (3:23)
Match #2 Anastasija GrigorjevaLAT Elena PirozhkovaUSA Decision (7 - 2)
Match #3 Henna JohanssonSWE Aysuluu TynybekovaKGZ Decision (5 - 2)
Match #4 Kaori IchoJPN Martine DugrenierCAN Decision (6 - 1)
Match #5 Jing RuixueCHN Choe Un-GyongPRK Decision (8 - 2)
Match #6 Monika MichalikPOL Blessing OborududuNGR Decision by shutout (5 - 0)
Match #7 Lyubov VolosovaRUS Katerina VidiauxCUB Decision (5 - 3)
Match #8 Yuliya OstapchukUKR Marianna SastinHUN Decision by shutout (5 - 0)

Quarter-Finals (8 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to semi-finals. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round two.

Match #1 Soronzonboldyn BattsetsegMGL Anastasija GrigorjevaLAT Decision (10 - 4)
Match #2 Kaori IchoJPN Henna JohanssonSWE Decision by shutout (5 - 0)
Match #3 Jing RuixueCHN Monika MichalikPOL Decision by shutout (5 - 0)
Match #4 Lyubov VolosovaRUS Yuliya OstapchukUKR Decision (3 - 1)

Semi-Finals (8 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to final. Losers advanced to repêchage final.

Match #1 Kaori IchoJPN Soronzonboldyn BattsetsegMGL Decision by shutout (5 - 0)
Match #2 Jing RuixueCHN Lyubov VolosovaRUS Decision (4 - 3)

Repêchage Round One (8 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to repêchage round two.

Match #1 Martine DugrenierCAN Bye
Match #2 Choe Un-GyongPRK Bye

Repêchage Round Two (8 August 2012)

Winner of each match advanced to repêchage final.

Match #1 Martine DugrenierCAN Henna JohanssonSWE Decision (9 - 2)
Match #2 Monika MichalikPOL Choe Un-GyongPRK Decision (5 - 1)

Repêchage Final (8 August 2012)

Match #1 Soronzonboldyn BattsetsegMGL Martine DugrenierCAN Decision by shutout (3 - 0)
Match #2 Lyubov VolosovaRUS Monika MichalikPOL Decision (4 - 2)

Final Round (8 August 2012)

Match 1/2 Kaori IchoJPN Jing RuixueCHN Decision by shutout (5 - 0)