2015 Open Wrestling Championships - 58KG Women - Helen Maroulis vs Kelsey Campbell
RIO DE JANEIRO Kerron Clement was so certain of a gold medal that in January he pushed aside his other track medals and cleared out an empty space in the trophy cabinet in his Gainesville, Florida, townhouse. For a place-holder, he put pen to paper and wrote: Gold medal, 2016.
Clement was so certain that when he was packing for Rio de Janeiro, he made sure his mother, Claudette, included the familys American flag. He figured he would need something to parade around the Olympic stadium track after winning the mens 400-meter hurdles race.
Clement was so certain that even when a young runner from Kenya looked as if he would catch Clement late in Thursdays race and s****h away the gold, the American hurdler didnt worry a bit.
I knew I was going to get that gold medal, and I was sticking to that plan, Clement said. Nothing and no one was going to stop me from achieving that.
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Wielding a lethal combination of confidence and speed, Clement will leave here with something to fill the empty space in that cabinet back home. Just as he planned, the 30-year-old hurdler won gold at these Rio Olympics, posting a time of 47.73, just 0.05 seconds ahead of Kenyas Boniface Mucheru Tumuti.
The mens 400-meter hurdles has been one of the United States strongest track and field events, with Americans having won seven of the past nine Olympic titles. On Thursday, though, Clement nearly lost the race at the finish line. With about 50 meters to go, he could feel his legs burning, and he could see Tumuti gaining ground. Clement thought he might have to dive across the finish line, he said, but I dug down deeper.
I was sprinting for my life, he said.
It was the race he had been imagining for years. Clement was born in Trinidad, but his family moved to the United States when he was in high school. He became a track star at the University of Florida, eventually winning silver in the event at the 2008 Olympics and gold at two world championships.
But four years ago, Clement finished last in the finals at the London Games. Along the way, he has dealt with a variety of injuries and surgeries, from groin to a hernia, and after the 2013 world championships, Clement realized he needed to step away from the track to allow both mind and body to rest.
I just needed a break mentally, he said. I was done.
Clement didnt completely abandon his training, but he took the 2014 season off from competition.
By the time he started eyeing the 2015 track and field calendar, he could feel the itch. The break had energized him, but when Clement returned to the track full time, he realized something had been missing.
When I came back, I found a new love for the hurdles, he said. I was like, Oh my G*d, I missed the hurdles. Just hitting the refocus button, loving it again, having a new mindset and new goals for the second chapter of my career, which is now.
At last years world championships, he finished in fourth place, just a hundredth of a second away from the podium, but he felt he entered the 2016 season with momentum at his back. He had at least one other thing on his side: determination.
I came out here with one mindset, to get a gold medal, and nothing was going to stop me, he said. Im a Scorpio. Once I set my mind to something, Im going to get it regardless.
US wrestler Maroulis wins womens goldAdd Helen Maroulis to the list of history-makers at the Rio Olympics.
The 24-year-old from Rockville, Maryland, upset the woman widely considered to be the greatest female wrestler of all time Thursday to take a gold medal in womens freestyle in the 53kg weight class.
Maroulis, a first-time Olympian who cut weight to compete in Rio, took down three-time defending gold medalist Saori Yoshida of Japan, 4-1.
Maroulis win adds to a recent tear that includes her first-ever world title at the 2015 world championships; she holds the longest winning streak of all American wrestlers.
The weight of the moment made for an emotional medal ceremony, with both wrestlers crying on their respective podiums. Maroulis mouthed The Star-Spangled Banner with tears running down her face while Yoshida seemed inconsolable, heaving sobs as she mourned her 14-year streak of winning either a world or Olympic title.
The Japanese legend had not lost a match since before the 2012 London Games.
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNFQs_zA2gwQm9C16k1McXc9H45m1A&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779184038170&ei=WJO2V4jcGISH3wHu6bbQBg&url=https://bangordailynews.com/2016/08/18/sports/americans-kerron-clement-helen-maroulis-claim-gold-medals/
