PARIS, France — The trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics came to a close for first-time attendee and Iowa women's wrestling commit, Kennedy Alexis Blades, after her gold medal match early Sunday morning.
Blades, who is just 20 years old, took on the second-seeded 22-year-old Yuka Kagamiof of Japan in the 76kg freestyle women's wrestling final match.
During the match, Blades would go down by one point after getting put on an early shot clock and not scoring. She would tie the match at one after securing a step-out point, but would still ultimately lose the match. Kagamiof secured a takedown in the second period and the match would finish 3-1, leaving Blades with silver.
Although not the gold she wanted, the Iowa commit won the very first Olympic medal in Hawkeye women's wrestling history - without even suiting up in the black and gold yet.
Earlier this year, she signed a national letter of intent to wrestle for Iowa in 2024 according to the program's head coach Clarissa Chun, and presumably the best is still to come in the athlete's young career.
To get to the final round Sunday, Blades beat fourth-seeded Catalina Axente of Romania 11-0, fifth-seeded Milaimy de la Caridad Marin Portrille of Cuba 4-3 and top-seed Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan 8-6 all in competition Saturday.
Other Team USA women's wrestlers to medal at the 2024 Olympics were Amit Elor in 68kg and Sarah Hildebrandt in 50kg both with gold, and Helen Maroulis in 57kg with a bronze.
