Sunnyside wrestling great Roman Bravo-Young trailed Armenian Arsen Harutyunyan 6-0 after the first round and could not recover, losing 13-3 in a technical fall in the second period of Thursday morning’s 57-kg (125-pound) opening-round match at the Paris Olympics.
Harutyunyan built the lead to 7-0 before Bravo-Young, representing Mexico, scored a takedown with less than two left in the second period to make it 7-2. Two more takedowns by Harutyunyan gave the Armenian the victory.
Bravo-Young, who won four state titles at Sunnyside and two national championships at Penn State, had an opportunity to compete for a bronze medal Friday after the loss if Harutyunyan advanced to the finals.
Harutyunyan lost in the quarterfinals, however, by a 12-5 decision to Uzbekistan’s Gulomjon Abdullaev.
In the Olympics, wrestlers are given an opportunity to challenge for a bronze medal, despite losing earlier in the tournament to a finalist.
Each of the two finalists defeat three wrestlers en route to the gold-medal match: one in the Round of 16, one in the quarterfinals, and one in the semifinals. The six defeated athletes then get pulled into a repechage draw, which is split into two halves.
The two losing semifinalists advance directly to bronze-medal matches. In each half of the draw, one of the quarterfinal losers will face one of the Round of 16 losers. The winner of that bout will advance to a bronze-medal match to wrestle one of the semifinalists. There will be two separate bronze-medal matches and therefore two bronze medals awarded.
Bravo-Young, 25, competed in his first Olympics after his stellar careers at Sunnyside and Penn State.
The 2028 Olympics are closer to home in Los Angeles. Bravo-Young will use the experience in Paris to improve his chances for the gold in four years.
Abdullaev will face Spencer Lee of the United States in the semifinals on Thursday at 9:22 a.m., Tucson time.
Lee defeated China’s Wanhao Zou by a 3-2 decision in the opening round and Kyrgyzstan’s Bekzat Almaz Uulu by a 12-2 technical fall in the second period of the quarterfinal match.
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