American wrestler Gable Steveson was seconds away from losing to Georgia's Geno Petriashvili. But Steveson’s two-point takedown as the clock ticked down to zero secured a come-from-behind win and the gold medal
Steveson had an early 4-0 lead on Petriashvili and recovered nicely on a Petriashvili turn to gain a point back as the scored narrowed to 5-2.
The Georgian went on a 6-0 run with two takedowns and a turn to make it 8-5 in his favor. With under 15 seconds left, Steveson got a takedown to cut it to a one-point match before the final takedown right before the buzzer to go up 9-8.
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The failed challenge attempt from Petriashvili's corner upped the final score to 10-8.
Steveson won his semifinal match against Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur of Mongolia 5-0 to advance to the final of the men’s freestyle 125kg wrestling event.
The American had not surrendered a point at the Games before wrestling Petriashvili. He previously beat Kyrgyzstan Aiaal Lazarev 10-0, Turkey’s Taha Akgul 8-0, and Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur of Mongolia 5-0.
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Petriashvili, the No. 1 ranked 125kg wrestler, defeated Egypt’s Diaaeldin Kamal Gouda Abdelmottaleb 11-0 in the Round of 16 to open the games. He then took down China's Deng Zhiwei in the quarterfinals 5-2 and then beat Iran’s Amir Hossein Zare 6-3 in the semifinals.
The United States now have seven wrestling medals in Tokyo, the most among any country.
