Paris Olympics Day 14: Helen Maroulis first American woman to win three Olympic wrestling medals

Helen Maroulis emphatically pushed her name back atop the list of U.S. women’s Olympic wrestling medalists.

Maroulis pinned Canada’s Hannah Taylor in 24 seconds to claim bronze medal in the 57-kilogram freestyle category on Friday. She is the first American woman to claim three Olympic medals, following her gold in Rio de Janeiro and her bronze in Tokyo.

Maroulis, 32, said as recently as Thursday she thought she was going to retire. Now, she’s not sure what she’ll do.

“I didn’t want to just, like, go out there and wrestle scared … I really wanted to wrestle my very best,” she said. “And if is this is the last memory I have of myself on the mat, I wanted it to be something beautiful.”

The only American woman to make three Olympic teams, Maroulis broke the tie of two Olympic medals she shared with Sarah Hildebrandt, who won gold earlier in the week. No other American woman has more than one Olympic medal.

Maroulis wasn’t even sure she’d wrestle in Tokyo back in 2021 following issues with concussions. Her head cleared up days before competition began, and she was pleasantly surprised to earn bronze.

“I felt like I was back to my old self, got to wrestle the way that I always wanted to, and I was like, ‘Man, this is crazy. Like, why stop now?’ ” she said.

Other highlights of what happened on Day 14 of the Paris Olympics:

Beach volleyball

Brazil won a tense, three-set final to claim the women’s beach volleyball gold medal, finishing off the Canadians 24-26, 21-12, 10-15 following a nose-to-nose confrontation at the net that needed the intervention of the referee — and the Eiffel Tower Stadium DJ.

Ana Patrícia and Duda rallied from an 11-5 deficit to win the first set and, after Canada won the second, the Brazilians never trailed in the third. It was 12-7 in the tiebreaking set when, after a joust at the net, Brandie Wilkerson began shouting and pointing at Duda.

The second referee, the one at sand level, moved out to separate the two players, but Wilkerson continued to argue; she was shown a yellow card. As the Brazilians got into position to serve for the next point, the DJ began playing John Lennon’s “Imagine,” its lyrics calling for unity and peace.

The players laughed, and the Canadians also clapped in approval. The crowd applauded and then began singing along.

Switzerland beat Australia in straight sets to earn the bronze medal.

Boxing

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won gold after facing scrutiny over misconceptions about her sex.

Khelif emerged as a champion from a tumultuous run at the Games where she was the subject of online abuse from around the world over misconceptions about her womanhood.

Khelif beat Yang Liu of China 5:0 in the final of the women’s welterweight division, wrapping up the best series of fights of her boxing career with a victory at Roland Garros, where crowds chanted her name, waved Algerian flags and roared every time she landed a punch.

After her unanimous win, Khelif jumped into her coaches’ arms, one of them putting her on his shoulders and carrying her around the arena in a victory lap as she pumped her fists and grabbed an Algerian flag from someone in the crowd.

Soccer

Sergio Camello struck twice in extra time as Spain took gold in the Olympic men’s soccer final with a 5-3 win against France.

The thrilling win at Parc des Princes completed a golden summer for Spanish soccer — following the senior team’s European Championship triumph last month.

Spain, which lost the final to Brazil at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, became the first European gold medalist in men’s soccer since it last won the tournament at the Barcelona Games in 1992.

On the women’s side, Ann-Katrin Berger saved a last-minute penalty and Germany won the bronze medal with a 1-0 victory over Women’s World Cup winner Spain.

Berger dove to stop Alexia Putellas’ penalty attempt in the ninth minute of stoppage time, and then raised her hands in victory. Putellas was in tears as the match ended.

Giulia Gwinn converted a second-half penalty for Germany that proved to be the game-winner.

It was Germany’s fourth bronze medal in women’s soccer at the Olympics. The Germans won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games but didn’t qualify for Tokyo three years ago.

Spain, ranked No. 1 in the world after the World Cup win, was making its Olympics debut.

Men’s water polo

Nikola Dedovic scored four times and Serbia beat the U.S. 10-6 on Friday in the semifinals of the men’s water polo tournament at the Paris Olympics, ending the Americans’ surprising run.

Serbia is trying to become the third men’s team to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals. Just like in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, it has moved to another level after a shaky start in group play.

Next up is Croatia, which edged Hungary 9-8 in the second semifinal. Croatia is looking to become the fourth team to win Olympic gold as the reigning world champion.

The final is on Sunday at Paris La Defense Arena.

Table tennis

Ma Long became the Chinese athlete with the most gold medals in the history of the Olympics when he helped his country win the men’s table tennis team final.

China defeated Sweden for its fifth straight Olympic victory in the team event, and Ma secured his sixth gold to become the most decorated table tennis Olympian.

The 35-year-old Ma has won at least one gold medal in every Summer Games since London in 2012.

Weightlifting

Olivia Reeves won the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in weightlifting in 24 years.

Reeves lifted 117 kilograms (390 pounds) in the snatch and 145kg (320 pounds) in the clean and jerk for a total of 262kg to beat Mari Leivis Sanchez of Colombia by five kilograms in the women’s 71kg division.

Karlos Nasar of Bulgaria won weightlifting gold and broke two world records just over a year after a hotel sink fell on him and severed his left Achilles tendon.

Nasar was showering the night before an awards ceremony in May 2023 when he reached for shampoo and pressed down, causing the sink to fall out of the wall and onto him. After undergoing surgery and missing six months, he returned to weightlifting in December and set the clean and jerk world record that he surpassed in this event.

FRIDAY’S MEDALISTS

ATHLETICS

Men’s 400m Hurdles

GOLD: Rai Benjamin, United States

SILVER: Karsten Warholm, Norway

BRONZE: Alison dos Santos, Brazil

Men’s 4 x 100m Relay

GOLD: Canada (Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney, Andre de Grasse)

SILVER: South Africa (Bayanda Walaza, Shaun Maswanganyi, Bradley Nkoana, Akani Simbine)

BRONZE: Britain (Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe, Richard Kilty, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Zharnel Hughes)

Men’s Triple Jump

GOLD: Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun, Spain

SILVER: Pedro Pichardo, Portugal

BRONZE: Andy Diaz Hernandez, Italy

Women’s 10,000m

GOLD: Beatrice Chebet, Kenya

SILVER: Nadia Battocletti, Italy

BRONZE: Sifan Hassan, Netherlands

Women’s 400m

GOLD: Marileidy Paulino, Dominican Republic

SILVER: Salwa Eid Naser, Bahrain

BRONZE: Natalia Kaczmarek, Poland

Women’s 4 x 100m Relay

GOLD: United States (Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry, Gabrielle Thomas, Sha’carri Richardson)

SILVER: Britain (Dina Asher-Smith, Bianca Williams, Imani Lansiquot, Amy Hunt, Daryll Neita, Desiree Henry)

BRONZE: Germany (Alexandra Burghardt, Sophia Junk, Lisa Mayer, Gina Lueckenkemper, Rebekka Haase)

Women’s Heptathlon

GOLD: Nafissatou Thiam, Belgium

SILVER: Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Britain

BRONZE: Noor Vidts, Belgium

Women’s Shot Put

GOLD: Yemisi Ogunleye, Germany

SILVER: Maddison-Lee Wesche, New Zealand

BRONZE: Jiayuan Song, China

BREAKING

B-Girls

GOLD: Ami, Japan

SILVER: Nicka, Lithuania

BRONZE: 671, China

BOXING

Men’s 71kg

GOLD: Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev, Uzbekistan

SILVER: Marco Alonso Verde Alvarez, Mexico

BRONZE: Omari Jones, United States

BRONZE: Lewis Richardson, Britain

Men’s 92kg

GOLD: Lazizbek Mullojonov, Uzbekistan

SILVER: Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez, Azerbaijan

BRONZE: Davlat Boltaev, Tajikistan

BRONZE: Enmanuel Reyes Pla, Spain

Women’s 50kg

GOLD: Yu Wu, China

SILVER: Buse Naz Cakiroglu, Turkey

BRONZE: Nazym Kyzaibay, Kazakhstan

BRONZE: Aira Villegas, Philippines

Women’s 66kg

GOLD: Imane Khelif, Algeria

SILVER: Liu Yang, China

BRONZE: Janjaem Suwannapheng, Thailand

BRONZE: Nien Chin Chen, Taiwan

SPORT CLIMBING

Men’s Boulder & Lead

GOLD: Toby Roberts, Britain

SILVER: Sorato Anraku, Japan

BRONZE: Jakob Schubert, Austria

CANOE SPRINT

Men’s Canoe Single 1000m

GOLD: Martin Fuksa, Czech Republic

SILVER: Isaquias Queiroz, Brazil

BRONZE: Serghei Tarnovschi, Moldova

Men’s Kayak Double 500m

GOLD: Germany (Jacob Schopf, Max Lemke)

SILVER: Hungary (Bence Nadas, Sandor Totka)

BRONZE: Australia (Jean van der Westhuyzen, Tom Green)

Women’s Canoe Double 500m

GOLD: China (Shixiao Xu, Mengya Sun)

SILVER: Ukraine (Liudmyla Luzan, Anastasiia Rybachok)

BRONZE: Canada (Sloan Mackenzie, Katie Vincent)

Women’s Kayak Double 500m

GOLD: New Zealand (Lisa Carrington, Alicia Hoskin)

SILVER: Hungary (Tamara Csipes, Alida Dora Gazso)

BRONZE: Germany (Paulina Paszek, Jule Marie Hake, Noemi Pupp, Sara Fojt)

CYCLING TRACK

Men’s Sprint

GOLD: Harrie Lavreysen, Netherlands

SILVER: Matthew Richardson, Australia

BRONZE: Jack Carlin, Britain

Women’s Madison

GOLD: Italy (Chiara Consonni, Vittoria Guazzini)

SILVER: Britain (Elinor Barker, Neah Evans)

BRONZE: Netherlands (Lisa van Belle, Maike van der Duin)

DIVING

Women’s 3m Springboard

GOLD: Yiwen Chen, China

SILVER: Maddison Keeney, Australia

BRONZE: Yani Chang, China

SOCCER

Men

GOLD: Spain (Arnau Tenas, Marc Pubill, Juan Miranda, Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsi, Pablo Barrios, Diego Lopez, Benat Turrientes, Abel Ruiz, Alex Baena, Fermin Lopez, Jon Pacheco, Joan Garcia, Aimar Oroz, Miguel Gutierrez, Adrian Bernabe, Sergio Gomez, Samu Omorodion, Cristhian Mosquera, Juanlu Sanchez, Sergio Camello, Alejandro Iturbe)

SILVER: France (Obed Nkambadio, Castello Lukeba, Adrien Truffert, Loic Bade, Kiliann Sildillia, Manu Kone, Michael Olise, Maghnes Akliouche, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Alexandre Lacazette, Desire Doue, Enzo Millot, Joris Chotard, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Bradley Locko, Guillaume Restes, Soungoutou Magassa, Rayan Cherki, Chrislain Matsima, Andy Diouf, Johann Lepenant)

BRONZE: Morocco (Munir El Kajoui, Achraf Hakimi, Akram Nakach, Mehdi Boukamir, Adil Tahif, Benjamin Bouchouari, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Bilal El Khannouss, Soufiane Rahimi, Ilias Akhomach, Zakaria El Ouahdi, Rachid Ghanimi, Yassine Kechta, Oussama Targhalline, Mehdi Maouhoub, Abde Ezzalzouli, Oussama El Azzouzi, Amir Richardson, Haytam Manaout)

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS

Individual All-Around

GOLD: Darja Varfolomeev, Germany

SILVER: Boryana Kaleyn, Bulgaria

BRONZE: Sofia Raffaeli, Italy

FIELD HOCKEY

Women

GOLD: Netherlands (Anne Veenendaal, Luna Noa Fokke, Freeke Moes, Lisa Post, Xan de Waard, Yibbi Jansen, Renee van Laarhoven, Felice Albers, Maria Verschoor, Sanne Koolen, Frederique Matla, Joosje Burg, Marleen Jochems, Pien Sanders, Marijn Veen, Laura Nunnink, Pien Dicke)

SILVER: China (Jiao Ye, Bingfeng Gu, Liu Yang, Ying Zhang, Yi Chen, Ning Ma, Hong Li, Zixia Ou, Wen Dan, Meirong Zou, Jiangxin He, Yunxia Fan, Yang Chen, Wenyu Xu, Jiaqi Zhong, Jinzhuang Tan, Anhui Yu)

BRONZE: Argentina (Sofia Toccalino, Agustina Gorzelany, Valentina Raposo Ruiz de los Llanos, Agostina Alonso, Agustina Albertarrio, Maria Granatto, Cristina Cosentino, Rocio Sanchez Moccia, Victoria Sauze Valdez, Sofia Cairo, Eugenia Trinchinetti, Lara Casas, Juana Castellaro Morello, Maria Campoy, Julieta Jankunas, Zoe Diaz de Armas)

MARATHON SWIMMING

Men’s 10km

GOLD: Kristof Rasovszky, Hungary

SILVER: Oliver Klemet, Germany

BRONZE: David Betlehem, Hungary

SAILING

Men’s Kite

GOLD: Valentin Bontus, Austria

SILVER: Toni Vodisek, Slovenia

BRONZE: Maximilian Maeder, Singapore

TAEKWONDO

Men -80kg

GOLD: Firas Katoussi, Tunisia

SILVER: Mehran Barkhordari, Iran

BRONZE: Edi Hrnic, Denmark

BRONZE: Simone Alessio, Italy

Women -67kg

GOLD: Viviana Marton, Hungary

SILVER: Aleksandra Perisic, Serbia

BRONZE: Sarah Chaari, Belgium

BRONZE: Kristina Teachout, United States

TABLE TENNIS

Men’s Team

GOLD: China (Zhendong Fan, Long Ma, Chuqin Wang)

SILVER: Sweden (Anton Kallberg, Kristian Karlsson, Truls Moregard)

BRONZE: France (Simon Gauzy, Alexis Lebrun, Felix Lebrun)

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Women

GOLD: Brazil (Ana Patricia Silva Ramos, Eduarda Santos Lisboa)

SILVER: Canada (Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson)

BRONZE: Switzerland (Tanja Hueberli, Nina Brunner)

WEIGHTLIFTING

Men’s 89kg

GOLD: Karlos May Nasar, Bulgaria

SILVER: Yeison Lopez, Colombia

BRONZE: Antonino Pizzolato, Italy

Women’s 71kg

GOLD: Olivia Reeves, United States

SILVER: Mari Leivis Sanchez, Colombia

BRONZE: Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes, Ecuador

WRESTLING

Men’s Freestyle 57kg

GOLD: Rei Higuchi, Japan

SILVER: Spencer Richard Lee, United States

BRONZE: Aman Aman, India

BRONZE: Gulomjon Abdullaev, Uzbekistan

Men’s Freestyle 86kg

GOLD: Magomed Eldarovitch Ramazanov, Bulgaria

SILVER: Hassan Yazdanicharati, Iran

BRONZE: Aaron Marquel Brooks, United States

BRONZE: Dauren Kurugliev, Greece

Women’s Freestyle 57kg

GOLD: Tsugumi Sakurai, Japan

SILVER: Anastasia Nichita, Moldova

BRONZE: Helen Louise Maroulis, United States

BRONZE: Kexin Hong, China