OSU’s Coleman Scott Wins Olympic Bronze
LONDON—Oklahoma State’s Coleman Scott defeated Kenichi Yumoto from Japan, 0-1, 3-0, 3-1, in his fourth match of the day to win an Olympic bronze medal in the 60 kg freestyle wrestling weight class Saturday at ExCeL North Arena 2.
In his first round, Scott swept Seung-Chul Lee of Korea with a 3-0, 3-0 victory. Scott and Lee were scoreless at the end of the first period, but Scott hit a three-point move after winning the ball draw. It was more of the same in the second period, but Scott lost the ball draw and still managed to score a takedown and back points for the win.
He took on Malkhaz Zarkua of Georgia in the quarterfinals, who was an upset winner over Vasyl Fedoryshin – the 2010 World’s silver medalist – in his opening round. Scott set the tone immediately when he scored a quick takedown in the first, giving him the advantage going into the second period. He exploded in the second with a three-point takedown, gaining momentum to pin the Georgian just seconds later and claim the win by fall.
Scott’s pin thrust him into the semifinals, where he suffered his only loss of the day to the eventual gold medalist, Togrul Asagrov of Azerbaijan. With Asagrov taking the first period, 1-0, the two battled until the final moments of the second period, but Asagrov came out on top, winning the match, 1-0, 4-0.
In Scott’s final bout, Yumoto, who was wrestling for his second Olympic bronze medal, took the first period with a takedown in overtime, but Scott commanded the second period, winning, 3-0. The match was taken to a third period. Yumoto scored a takedown with 30 seconds remaining, but Scott responded with a takedown with only 15 seconds remaining, then he added back points in the waning moments to seal his bronze medal.
“It wasn’t what I came here for,” Scott said. “I wanted to win a gold medal, but I made sure I wasn’t leaving here with nothing. I was disappointed in my semifinal loss, but I had to come back and win a medal. It feels good to go out with a win.”
Joining Scott on the podium was India’s Yoeshwar Dutt, who won took home the other bronze, silver medalist Besik Kudukhov of Russia and gold medal winner Asagrov.
Scott’s 2012 Olympic medal became the 30th for Oklahoma State and 16th for the Cowboy wrestling program.
Updated 08-14-2012
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