SLAY SLAIN
Germany’s Alexander Leipold won his country’s first freestyle wrestling Olympic gold for 40
years amid bad blood and accusations.
The 31-year-old outpointed Brandon Slay of the United
States to win his first Olympic medal in his fourth Games. Leipold was rarely in any danger in the under76 kg final and steadily stacked up the points as his opponent struggled to
make any impression.
The German won 4-0 and performed a cart-wheel followed by a
back-flip to celebrate his win.
"This is my greatest victory," he said. "This is a hard
weight category with many champions."
The German picked up a huge black eye for his troubles, but
it did not bother him.
"I don’t want to win a beauty pageant. I
wanted the gold medal and that’s why I’m here," he said.
Slay took the defeat badly, refusing to shake either his
opponent’s or the referee’s hand at the end.
He said later: "This is the worst I’ve ever felt in my life
after a loss. I don’t believe it was fair. I wasn’t treated
fairly by the officials. I went out there and gave it my all
but the match was out of my hands."
Slay also accused the German of“whingeing like a crying
baby”, adding: "He just kept acting to the officials to get the
points."
Despite Slay’s comments, there was to be no official
protest from the US camp and it was a bad day for American finalists as Samuel Henson
also lost in the final of the under 54kg category.
Namig Abdullayev of Azerbaijan reversed his loss in the
final of the 1998 world championships by edging out Henson four
points to three.
Abdullayev, silver medallist in Atlanta four years ago, was
mobbed by his coaches at the final buzzer before completing a
lap of honour with his country’s flag.
Serafim Barzakov of Bulgaria, world champion in 1998, was
beaten for the second time this season in a major championship
by Mourad Oumakhanov of Russia in the under 63 kg final.
The Russian pinned Barzakov in the European championship
semi-final earlier in the year but this time he only pipped the
Bulgarian by a single point. It was Oumakhanov’s first major
international medal.
In the under 97kg final, the 1999 world champion Saghid
Mourtasaliyev claimed Russia’s second wrestling gold medal as
he dominated the final against Islam Bairamukov of Kazakhstan. Mourtasaliyev piled on the points throughout the bout to
win by six.
PETER WATTS
Sunday Times
