Kennedy Blades one win from Olympic Gold
The future is here, and her name is Kennedy Blades.
Any other conclusion just wouldn’t make much sense after what we saw from the 20-year-old phenom today in Paris.
Three matches, three victories – over the #5, the #4 and #1 seeded wrestlers in her bracket – and the Chicago native is on her way to tomorrow’s gold medal match at 76 kilograms in the women’s freestyle division.
The talent was evident – as has been the case for the past few years ever since she made an opening splash on the senior level as a teenager. But what really stood out today was a poise in the moment that belies plenty of wrestlers regardless of age.
In several pressurized circumstances Blades kept her composure, and because of it she’ll be wrestling in her first-ever Olympic final on Sunday morning.
And yeah, there’s also that ridiculous talent – which brings us to the first match of the morning…
Match 1: #4 Catalina Axente (Romania) – 11-0 tech. fall
A fifth-place finisher at last year’s Senior World Championships, Axente would quickly learn that the American wasn’t quite like anyone she’d wrestled before.
Blades scored early with a sweet double-leg takedown, then followed it up shortly thereafter with another – the latter of even more impressive amplitude as the Hawkeye-to-be absolutely exploded through the Romanian for a four-point feet-to-back move.
The scoreline (6-0) would hold for a while, with Axente clearly reticent to put herself anywhere near striking distance.
In time the danger would find her, however – as Blades hit a slick slide-by to get behind before unleashing one of the more stunning maneuvers you’ll ever see in the sport of wrestling:
The electrifying, five-point suplex earned Blades the tech. fall.
To be honest, there’s really not much to say about it other than that, so I’ll leave you with another photo that does the job far better than I ever could:
Quarterfinal: #5 Milaimys Marin Potrille (Cuba) – 4-3 decision
Blades’ quarterfinal match might have been her most impressive feat of the day, largely due to her 4-3 victory coming at the expense of an opponent who nearly teched her (13-4) just last month at a tournament in Madrid, Spain.
Cuba’s Milaimys Marin Potrille entered the Olympics as (I thought) one of the dark horses to make a deep run at 76kg.
The 2019 U20 and U23 World Champion is a dangerous opponent for anyone, which Blades knew all too well given their previous meeting.
In a matchup of two fluid, athletic upper weights Blades would be the only one to get to a leg in the opening period, though to no avail.
A shot clock point for the American sent things to the break at 1-0.
Potrille immediately responded to start the second, shooting Blades out of bounds for a step out and a 1-1 lead on criteria. Not only that, but Blades would be put on the shot clock moments after.
She’d waste little time coming up with a response of her own, firing her patented double leg and driving the Cuban out of the circle to regain the 2-1 edge.
Action from both wrestlers would pick up from there, with each seemingly committed to altering the scoreboard in one way or another.
A takedown for Potrille felt near imminent when she hit a deep double midway through the period, but not only was she unable to convert, Blades would instead hip into the Cuban for two points of her own before the action spilled out of bounds.
Now holding a three-point advantage, Blades was on the defensive for most of the final minute.
An attention warning from the mat official and a go-behind takedown by Potrille with 14 seconds to go made things feel a bit uneasy, but the score (4-3) would hold up as the clock struck triple zeroes and the American was headed to the semifinals.
Semifinal: #1 Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kyrgyzstan)
The final bout of Day 1 was with another familiar foe – this time one whom Blades had gotten the better of (12-1) as of February 2023.
Two-time World medalist (incl. silver in 2023) Aiperi Medet Kyzy entered the semifinals as the top-seeded wrestler in the entire bracket, and though Blades may have cruised in their lone prior meeting this go around was going to be a far closer battle.
https://youtu.be/YU7pnq1I_Uk?si=-_v-wHYFANbw_Oo4
Around 1:20 in, the American would go on the shot clock first – a response to Kyzy taking ground for much of the early going.
And once again, Blades would immediately respond, doubling the Kyrgyzstani out of bounds for a two-point takedown.
In short order the script would be flipped, as Kyzy found an advantageous upper body hold that Blades smartly conceded for only two points.
With 15 seconds left in the period it was another shot-to-step-out score for the American and a 3-2 lead heading to intermission.
Early in the second period she’d find herself in another precarious upper-body tie near the edge, but somehow managed to throw by her opponent by, tip toe the boundary, get to a leg and finish for a two-point takedown.
It was the perfect example of what I described in the open of this piece: an incredible coalescence of athletic prowess and mat savvy all packed into one 20-year-old young woman.
(The Kyrgyzstan corner would also challenge the sequence and lose – making the score 6-2).
Yet again right off the whistle Blades was back on the attack, scoring a double-leg takedown to increase her lead to six.
Perhaps feeling like she was about to put things completely on ice, she’d shoot once more, only this time Kyzy would counter for a go-behind score followed by a two-point gut wrench to make it 8-6.
Blades continued to probe as she held the lead, then with a half-minute to go she’d pull another (eerily similar) rabbit out of her hat.
Having (again) been forced to the edge, another throw-by from Blades nearly put her in position to score, but she smartly didn’t risk a potential scramble and instead chewed up almost 20 seconds of valuable time knowing she was still in control on the scoreboard.
After a stalemate was finally called, only 10 seconds remained in the period, which she was comfortably able to see out for the 8-6 victory and a spot in the gold medal match.
Going for gold
The opponent awaiting the incoming Hawkeye in the Olympic final will be Japan’s Yuka Kagami – the reigning World champion at 76 kilograms.
Kagami also has 2022 World bronze, U23 World silver (2019) as well as three other age-level World titles to her name from 2017-19.
Like seemingly all Japanese wrestlers, regardless of discipline or gender, she’s technically sound and rarely seems to beat herself – something illustrated on her 3-0 run to the final (wins by small, yet controlled margins of 2-0, 3-0 and 4-2 respectively).
Also, not to brag or anything but this is kind of the exact finals match I predicted in my preview of 76kg for the women.
How to watch
As of now, the gold medal match is tentatively scheduled for 6:20 a.m. (CDT) – streaming live on Peacock.
However, as I’ve been saying all week long, I’d encourage folks to tune in 15-20 minutes early just to be safe.
As for an actual television broadcast of the final, USA Network will likely be airing a replay sometime later Sunday, but that exact time could fluctuate as well depending on other Olympic events being aired.
Again, your best bet to catch the match (live or via replay) is on Peacock, whether you like it or not.
Short time
You can bet that I’ll most certainly be up early tomorrow for both Blades and the final day of wrestling at the 2024 Olympics as a whole.
I hope as many of you who can manage it will join me.
Not only should it be a heck of a match, but it could be something even more historic than it already is if Blades were to nab Olympic gold just weeks before stepping onto campus in Iowa City.
Be sure to check back in tomorrow for my recap of the proceedings, and thanks as always for reading.
