ATHENS, 26 August 2004 — Two Russians, an Azerbaijani and a Hungarian won Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling gold on Wednesday as the main attraction, American Rulon Gardner, a bronze medal winner, shed a tear and stepped off the mat for the last time.
It was a night full of emotion and close contests, many of which had to be settled in added time.
In the 84 kg class, Alexei Michine of Russia won the title but needed a referee’s ruling to beat Sweden’s Ara Abrahamian by the closest of margins.
The bout ended in a 1-1 tie after the mandatory six minutes and three minutes of added time and the officials eventually ruled that Michine had done enough for gold.
In the battle of the big men, Russia’s Khasan Baroev won the 120 kg gold after overturning a deficit in the last minute against Kazakhstan’s Georgiy Tsurtsumia. Gardner’s bout against Iranian Sajad Barazi was also extended and at the end he placed his boots in the middle of the ring to signal retirement before walking off with the stars and stripes flag as he waved emotionally to the American crowd.
Gardner’s supporters also held up a large sheet covered with good luck messages from his townsfolk in Afton, Wyoming.
The 33-year-old narrowly escaped death when stranded in temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius after his snowmobile broke down in a forest in 2002 causing him to lose a toe to frost bite. He also dislocated his shoulder in a motorbike accident last year.
In the 55kg class Hungarian Istvan Majoros needed extra time to defeat 2002 world champion Gueidar Mamedaliev of Russia for the gold.
Farid Mansurov of Azerbaijan won the 66kg gold by beating Turkey’s Seref Eroglu. The bronze medal bout was won by Mkkhitar Manukyan of Kazakhstan.
Cuba Win Baseball Gold
After Beating Australia
Cuba captured their third gold medal in Olympic baseball yesterday, beating Australia 6-2 as Frederich Cepeda hit a two-run homer for the island nation.
Australia took the silver for their first medal in the sport while Japan claimed the bronze after beating Canada earlier in the day. Cepeda put Cuba on the board first with his homer in the fourth. The Cuban left fielder took a long and leisurely stroll down the first base line to admire his handiwork as the ball sailed over the fence. The Cubans then exploded for four runs in the sixth inning, to put the game out of reach for the Aussies, who made their way to the gold-medal game.
Japan dominated Canada in an 11-2 win, but it was a bittersweet victory for Japan, which had high hopes of a gold with their “Dream Team” of pro baseball stars.
