Day 1, Session 2 Olympic Games Recap

59 kg: Ismael Borreo Molina dominated this tournament from start to finish and left no doubt on who the best wrestler in the world is at this weight. The 22 year old Cuban made quick work of upstart finalist Shinobu Ota of Japan in the gold medal match, winning by a score of 8-0. Borreo Molina now has an Olympic gold medal to go with his 2015 World Championship and is well on his way to having a phenomenal career. In the first bronze medal match, two-time World medalist Elmurat Tasmuradov of Uzbekistan outscored Arsen Eraliev of Kyrgyzstan 13-8. Eraliev broke out to an early lead in this match, but Tasmuradov fought his way back into the lead and held onto it to earn his first Olympic medal. In the second bronze medal match, Stig-Andre Berge of Norway became the first Olympic medalist for his country since 1992 by defeating two-time Olympic silver medalist Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan. Berge beat the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th ranked guys in the world on his way to winning a bronze medal.

75 kg:

On a day where many things were uncertain for Roman Vlasov, one thing is for sure: he has the best lift from the par terre in the world and that is why he is now a two-time Olympic champion. After surviving several controversial calls and almost getting pinned in the semis, Vlasov cruised to a 5-1 victory over Mark Madsen of Denmark in the gold medal match. Just like Borreo Molina, Vlasov is young and has the potential to be a superstar in the sport of wrestling. In the first bronze medal match, Hyeon-Woo Kim of South Korea came from behind to down a very scrappy Bozo Starcevic of Croatia. Kim now has an Olympic bronze medal to go with the gold that he earned in 2012. In the second bronze medal match, Saeid Morad Abdvali of Iran scored 3 points in the first 10 seconds and held on from there to beat Peter Bacsi of Hungary by a score of 5-2.