American Gray falls to rival, earns silver
CHIBA, Japan – U.S. 76 kg freestyle wrestler Adeline Gray earned an Olympic medal for the first time in her career, claiming silver after a 7-3 loss to Germany’s Aline Rotter-Focken in the final on Monday.
Gray, 30, is a five-time world champion. She finished seventh at the 2016 Rio Olympics and battled through shoulder and knee injuries there that ultimately kept her off the mat for a year in 2017.
Gray and Rotter-Focken are familiar opponents – they squared off last at the 2019 world championship in the semifinal, with Gray earning a 5-2 victory over her German opponent. The two have competed against each other since they were teens, and Gray even invited Rotter-Focken to her wedding.
Gray is the sixth woman overall to medal in wrestling for the U.S. at the Olympics. Helen Maroulis, who took gold at the Rio Olympics in the 53-kilogram weight class, is the only U.S. woman to finish at the top of the podium. Gray and 68 kg freestyle wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who qualified for her final on Monday night, will give the U.S. women’s team at least two freestyle medals. That haul ties the contributions from the 2004 U.S. Olympic women’s team.
Gray was the first U.S. freestyle wrestler of any gender to win five gold medals at the world championships (2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019).
The Denver native had plans to retire after the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, but the COVID-19 postponement set her back a year. The additional year allowed her to rehabilitate fractured ribs sustained at the Pan American Games in March 2020. Gray didn’t compete again until U.S. nationals in October.