Panam Sports » Cuba, Brazil and the United States succeed in women’s freestyle wrestling

Cuba, Brazil and the United States succeed in women’s freestyle wrestling

Amid the tears and cheers of the audience, the first three categories of women’s wrestling ended.

Today, Women’s Day began in the 50, 57 and 68 kilogram categories. In this sense, the gold medal was won by Yusnelis Guzman (50 kg) from Cuba, Julia Rodriguez (57 kg) from Brazil, and Forrest Molinari (68 kg) from the United States.

In the 50 kg category, Cuban fighter Yusnelis Guzman took revenge from the 2019 Lima Games, where she won the silver medal. On this occasion, she won the gold medal, defeating Ecuadorian Jacqueline Molucana, who won the silver medal, while the bronze winner was Mariana Rojas from Venezuela.

There were less than ten seconds left for Usenelis to win the gold medal at Santiago 2023. The crowd in attendance expressed their support by chanting “Cuba, Cuba, Cuba” in unison, until the fighter made it happen. Guzman shouted his victory and threw himself onto the Olympic carpet to cry tears of joy.

“I prepared for this fight, I already beat her in Lima 2019 in the semi-finals, well, nothing, I gave everything I could in the fight and the result I wanted came out,” the athlete comments while crying.

On the other hand, in the women’s 57 kg weight category, Brazilian runner Julia Rodriguez won the gold medal, defeating Canadian Hannah Taylor, who won the silver medal. Angela Alvarez of Cuba took home the bronze medal for her country.

Regarding the victory of the Brazilian athlete, she highlights the importance of the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023.

“The Games are very important for us, and they have great meaning because they are held when we have the most visibility in our country. This is what I want to bring to us,” says the fighter.

Finally, the 68 kg category competition was held, where American Forrest Molinari was able to defeat her Venezuelan competitor, Solimi Carballo. This close battle ended 3 to 2 in favor of the United States. Third place went to Canadian wrestler Olivia Di Paco.

Point for gold

Undoubtedly, the 68kg category was the closest as both fighters have a proven track record in Olympic wrestling.

Forrest Molinari won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships, while Solimi Caraballo won gold at the 2022 Pan American Championships in Acapulco. Additionally, this will be the first Pan American Games in which both athletes will participate and that is its importance.

As much as Molinari and Caraballo enjoyed participating in the sport, there are no winners. At first, the Venezuelan player was in complete control of the American, initially earning her two points, while Molinari only had one.

However, the fight continued to progress and the score was already tied, and in less than a minute one of them had to get another point to be crowned the gold medalist.

Caraballo took control of the matter, and was less than 5 centimeters away from removing her opponent from the circle. In a mistake, the situation turned around and the American took advantage of her confidence to remove the Venezuelan from the circle.

Carballo commented: “I was wrong, she took half her foot out and I thought she was out, but I’m happy, I feel good because I left everything there.”

On the other hand, Forrest Molinari also commented on his experience regarding the competition and what he expects in the future.

“It’s been a pleasure to be here. For the first time at the Pan American Games and after coming out of a tough battle against the Venezuelan, I feel very good. I’m very excited to show what I have in Paris,” commented the winner.

Written by María Jesús Núñez and Bruno Peterson