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Canada's Tonya Verbeek wins silver in wrestling
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www.ctvolympics.ca
Canadian Tonya Verbeek won her third Olympic medal in women’s wrestling Thursday, settling for a silver after losing to Japan’s Saori Yoshida again in the 55kg gold-medal final on Day 13 at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The Grimsby, Ont., native stands alone as Canada’s most decorated Olympic women’s wrestler after capturing her first silver at Athens 2004 and a bronze at Beijing 2008.
"I promised going into the Olympics I would give everything and the result would take care of itself," Verbeek said.
Unfortunately she was unable to beat Yoshida in her ninth career attempt, losing 3-0, 2-0 in a match much closer than the score suggested. The nine-time world champion, who has now won three straight Olympic gold medals, also beat Verbeek in the final in Athens and in the semi-finals four years ago, as well as the 2011 world championship final.
"She is the favourite but she is beatable," Verbeek said. "She has weaknesses, like we all do. I have a lot of respect for her. To be able to come out and perform like that every time, you just have to have a lot of respect."
Verbeek started the gold-medal match with a very patient and defensive approach that had carried her into the final. The first minute and a half produced no scoring as the two looked for openings. After a clinch in the last 30 seconds, Yoshida caught Verbeek off-guard with a lightning quick leg grab, scoring three points as she drove and took down Verbeek out of bounds.
The second round was very similar with nothing for either wrestler until the final half-minute, when Yoshida managed a single-leg drag to the boundary for a point. Canada challenged the ruling, believing the two wrestlers were both on the ground before Verbeek was pulled out of bounds.
But the score was upheld after a video review and another point was added to the Japanese wrestler’s score because of the failed challenge, giving Verbeek a tough task to knot the match with 27 seconds left. Yoshida, 29, remained flawless to win her third straight Olympic gold medal.
"I felt strong against her but there were just a few things that got me," Verbeek said. "In the second round, I thought they gave the point a little too fast. In the first round, I wanted to do a counter-move we'd been working but it didn't quite work out.
"I am happy to bring home a silver medal."
Yoshida matched the feat accomplished by her teammate on Day 12, when Kaori Icho won her record-setting third consecutive Olympic title in the women’s 63kg division. It was also a third gold in women’s wrestling at London 2012 for Japan, which has dominated the discipline since its inclusion eight years ago. Eight-time world title-holder Hitomi Obara also won her first Olympic gold medal in the 48kg division Wednesday, defeating Canadian Carol Huynh in the semi-finals.
Verbeek’s loss was a bittersweet finish to a tremendous tournament this week for the 34-year-old, who has already said this will be her last Olympic Games.
"I felt a lot of belief in myself and I felt good going into the finals. I said to myself, 'This is my time,' but sometimes it doesn't work out that way," Verbeek added.
The St. Catherines-based wrestler said she will still compete internationally and intends to continue coaching wrestling at Brock University as well as at elementary-school level.
The 55kg bronze medals were won by Colombia’s Jackeline Renteria Castillo , whom Verbeek defeated in the semi-finals, and Azerbaijan’s Yuliya Ratkevich .
In the 72kg division, Leah Callahan of St. John’s lost her opening match 3-0, 5-0 to Mongolia's Burmaa Ochirbat and was eliminated from medal contention when Ochirbat failed to advance to the final.
Russia’s Natalia Vorobieva won the gold medal in a huge upset of five-time world champion Stanka Zlateva Hristova of Bulgaria. After dropping the first round 1-0, the 21-year-old caught Hristova in a fireman’s hold, took her down and pinned her at 0:46 of the second round for the victory.
Kazakhstan’s Guzel Manyurova and Spain’s Maider Unda won the bronze medals with wins over top contenders Jiao Wang of China and Vasilisa Marzalyuk of Belarus, respectively.
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