Jordan Burroughs wins wrestling gold
Jordan Burroughs wore a shirt that asked, "Got doubles?" as he worked towards the Olympics. It turns out that was the exact move that earned him gold in the 74kg freestyle wrestling division on Friday.
In his gold-medal match against Iran's Sadegh Goudarzi, Burroughs employed the double legs he is so known for to score in the first and second periods to secure the win. Burroughs hugged his coach Mark Manning, who also coached Burroughs at Nebraska, shook hands with his opponent's coaches, and then ran over to the medal stand to enjoy an impromptu medal celebration.
Burroughs easily won his first match of the day over Puerto Rico's Francisco Soler Tanco. He then faced off with Canada's Matt Gentry, who was an NCAA champion for Stanford. Burroughs got through the familiar foe to face Russia's Denis Tsargush, whom Burroughs beat to win the 2011 world championship.
[ Related: Chun breaks U.S. wrestling medal drought ]
He won the first period with a late takedown, then dropped the second. With a takedown near the end of the third, Burroughs won the right to face Goudarzi. Now, he is the proud owner of an Olympic gold medal.
It's a bright spot in a week that has featured few medals for the U.S. wrestling team. Greco-Roman wrestling didn't win any, and Clarissa Chun's bronze was the only medal won by women in freestyle.
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