Americans Lose Olympic Wrestling Freestyle Finals
S Y D N E Y, Australia, Sept. 30 -- Germany’s Alexander Leipold wonhis country’s first freestyle wrestling Olympic gold for 40years on today.
The 31-year-old outpointed Brandon Slay of the UnitedStates to win his first Olympic medal in his fourth games.
Leipold was rarely in any danger in the under 167½ pounds (76 kg) final,and steadily stacked up the points as his opponent struggled tomake any impression.
The German won 4-0 and performed a cartwheel followed by abackflip to celebrate his win.
Slay took the defeat badly, refusing to shake either hisopponent's or the referee’s hand at the end, before avoidingthe American press on his way out.
Winning Streak Ends
The United States’ two-day wrestling winning streak endedabruptly today with gold-medal match losses that saw Slaystruggle with international decorum and Henson struggle withintentional distraction.
Americans had won 12 consecutive matches, four earlier in theday by wrestlers who moved into medal contention Sunday, beforeHenson lost 4-3 to Namig Abdullayev of Azerbaijan at 119 pounds (54kg) and Slay lost 4-0 to Alexander Leipold of Germany at 167½pounds (76 kg).
Abdullayev, silver medalist in Atlanta four years ago, wasmobbed by his coaches at the final buzzer before completing alap of honor with his nation’s flag.
Breaking the Rules
Slay, in his first major international meet, was perhaps themost impressive of the American freestylers until being frustratedby rules interpretations that cost him three of Leipold’s fourpoints.
Henson, who had beaten his opponent in the 1998 world finals,was bothered when Abdullayev defended himself by constantlygrabbing at the straps of Henson’s singlet.
“They wouldn’t let me wrestle,” said Slay, a 25-year-old Texanwho drew loud jeering after the match for not shaking hands withthe referee.
As Slay and Leipold locked into the clinch that starts thesecond period when there is no score, Slay apparently disregardedinstructions to position his shoulder the way the referee wanted.
