Rio 2016: Olympic wrestling preview day 5: Women’s Freestyle 53kg, 63kg & 75kg

We’ll begin this preview of Day 4 as we will all future previews, with a link back to our Olympics Wrestling primer, which has a cheat sheet and live stream details.

Also a note that wrestling brackets are random draw and uneven. You can check out the brackets from the 2015 World Championship and the European Olympic Qualification Tournament to give you a better idea of what the Rio brackets will look like.

All to the point that picking place finishers before the weigh-ins are completed and brackets are released (which happens the day before the tournament) is a fool’s errand. Which is perhaps why I find it so much fun.

Women’s Freestyle 53kg

PICKS

GOLD: Saori Yoshida JPN

SILVER: Helen Maroulis Party in the USA

BRONZE: Sofia Mattsson SWE

BRONZE: Odunayo Adekuoroye NGR

CONTENDERS

Yoshida has sixteen world level medals. No big deal. Just a baker’s dozen plus three. Maryland’s Helen Maroulis is dropping down from 55kg where she won a gold medal in Vegas at the World Championships. Sweden’s Mattsson has lots of world medals but no golds at 53 kg because of gold medal vaccum Saori Yoshida. Nigeria’s Adekuoroye burst on to the scene with a bronze medal in Vegas and has a very bright future ahead of her.

OTHERS OF NOTE

China is sending Xuechun Zhong and North Korea is sending MyungSuk Jong. They are both contenders and their names both rhyme. FYI I am not an expert at this weight class.

RANKINGS

1 JPN Saori YOSHIDA

2 SWE Sofia MATTSON

3 NGR Odunayo ADEKUOROYE

4 CHN Xuechun ZHONG

5 PRK MyongSuk JONG

6 GER Nina HEMMER

8 UKR Yuliia KHAVALDZHY-BLAHINYA

9 VEN Betzabeth ARGUELLO

10 POL Katarzyna …

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