CHIBA, Japan (AP) — Adeline Gray will win at least this elusive Olympic medal.
Now you can directly on the gold.
Gray, a five-time world champion, had never won an Olympic medal in her career and finished seventh at the 2016 Rio Olympics after losing in the quarterfinals.
She on Sunday with a 3-2 victory over Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan in a 76-kilogram semifinal on Sunday.
With the win, she clined the sixth Olympic medal for an American woman and is well placed at the time the American woman wins gold.
“We’re in the final,” Gray said. I mean, that’s the point, right?And I felt like my team was waiting for the ball to roll with its right foot. And I felt like I was up to it. “
Gray competed at the 2016 Olympics with injuries that ultimately left her out of action for a year. Looking back in Rio, he learned how bad his stage was before those Olympics.
“He had expectations for me and I think everyone did the last quad, so that I did it very well,” he said. “I was undefeated for 2 1/2 years. I didn’t see anyone passing by so I could Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how bad I was.
Now he has his fitness and the chance to win the gold. She will face Germany’s Aline Rotter-Focken in the final on Monday. The two are friends: Gray even invited Rotter-Focken to his wedding.
“We’ve been talking about this for years,” Gray said. “We’ve been competing against each other since we were 17, 16 and something like that. So it’s as if so many years of hard paintings and efforts are coming to fruition. “
In the semifinals, Gray, 30, an unknown opponent, Medet Kyzy, 22.
“She cleaned up with a lot of other people that I have smart fights with, so I was in a position to fight,” Gray said. “It was a little closer than I would have imagined. It’s pretty slippery in some positions, however, I felt like my position had been given to the best of it.
Gray scored a point for Medet Kyzy and some others when he forced Medet Kyzy out. With about a minute to play, there was a fight on the edge that scored no problems for Medet Kyzy. Kyrgyzstan challenged and failed, giving Gray a point and a 3-0. Medet Kyzy scored with a strikeout to one leg in the last minute, but Gray held on.
Gray dominated his first game, covering Tunisia’s Zaineb Sghaier at 2:11. They had an 8-0 lead before marking the marker.
Gray faced Turkey’s Yasemin Adar in the quarterfinals, who gained the world name in 2017 as Gray recovered from injuries.
With Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” in the background, Gray ruled the maximum attack and took a 6-0 lead. Adar received a strikeout and a yaw to the ankle in the final 25 seconds and forced Gray to be on the defensive in the final seconds before waiting for a 6-4 victory.
Cuba’s Mijain Lopez won a fourth Olympic gold medal by beating Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp 2-0 in a 130kg Greco-Roman semi-final in a rematch of the 2016 gold medal game, which Lopez also won. .
In monday’s other final, Japan’s Kenichiro Fumita will face Cuba’s Luis Orta in the Greco-Roman 60kg category.
American Ildar Hafizov lost his first adjustment 5-0 to Orta at 60kg. Because his opponent has reached the final, he is alive in the play-off and can fight for bronze. He will face Sergey Emelin of the Russian Olympic Committee on Monday for one to qualify for a bronze medal game. Emelin, the second-seeded, lost to Orta 4-3 in the quarterfinals.
Two former women’s gold medalists retired from the medal race.
Canada’s Erica Wiebe, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 75kg category, lost her first attack at 76 on Sunday to Estonia’s Epp Maee. Wiebe lost 5-0, but came within 5-4 in the last minute before Maee led Wiebe’s. competitive rate at the end.
Natalia Vorobieva of the Russian Olympic Committee, gold medalist in 2012 in kg and silver medalist in 69 kg in 2016, lost to Medet Kyzy 12-0 in the quarterfinals of the 76 kg.
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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: twitter. com/CliffBruntAP.
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