Eli McKownDes Moines Register
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Iowans may not know her too well yet, but Hawkeye wrestler Kennedy Blades is making a name for herself at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The recent transfer into the Iowa women's wrestling program put on a show Saturday in the first three matches of her run at the Olympics, going 3-0 and outscoring her opponents 23-9 to reach Sunday's gold-medal match. Awaiting her there will be Japan's Yuka Kagami.
While the Illinois native hasn't even worn a Hawkeye singlet yet, she's already Iowa women's wrestling's first Olympian and Olympic medalist.
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Blades posted a highlight-reel victory against Romania’s Catalina Axente. First by hitting a blast double takedown for a 2-0 lead, followed by a four-point feet-to-back takedown for a 6-0 lead in the opening minute. After Axente closed in with a front headlock to try to limit Blades' offense, Blades unleashed a grand amplitude throw on Axente, throwing her up and over onto her neck and back area for five points and an 11-0 technical fall.
Axente has to be carted off the mat as a result of that suplex. Romanian officials said later that Axente did not sustain a major injury.
Blades had a tough opponent next in Cuba's Milaimy De La Caridad Marin Potrille, who beat Blades in July at the Spain Grand Prix by a 13-4 score. This time, Blades scored on a passivity clock violation on Marin Potrille, followed by a push-out and two-point exposure for a 4-3 win to avenge that loss and reach the semifinal.
In the Olympic semifinal at 76 kilograms, Blades took on Aiperi Medt Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan, a 25-year-old World silver medalist in 2023 and a World bronze medalist in 2021 (she also represented her country in the Tokyo Olympics). The two wrestled in a UWW rankings series match in February 2023, where Blades won by technical superiority (12-1).
This time, Blades kicked things off with a blast double once again, akin to a linebacker-like tackle for a 2-0 lead midway through the first period. Kyzy tied it quickly by grinding out a takedown with her upper body, but a push-out point gave Blades a 3-2 lead at the break.
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In the second, Blades countered an attack and scored a go-behind takedown near the edge of the mat. It was challenged by Kyrgyzstan and confirmed by officials, so she led 6-2. Right from the whistle after the challenge, Blades went aggressive and scored another takedown to lead 8-2, but conceded a takedown and two-point exposure in the process to lead 8-6. From there, she locked back down and advanced to the gold-medal match.
"Obviously, I knew it was gonna be a fight," Blades told reporters in Paris. "I just really had to be composed, not get in my own head, keep wrestling, listening to coach Izzy (Israel Martinez). When the buzzer went, I was just so happy."
If Blades wins on Sunday, it would be Team USA's third gold medal at the Olympics, two of which would be coming from 20-year old wrestlers in Blades (if she wins) and Amit Elor (who already won). Sarah Hildebrandt won gold as well.
It's a demonstration not only of Blades' talent, but that of the entire Iowa women's wrestling program. Not only by having a Olympic medalist with three years of eligibility on the squad, but also the talent across the board. Kylie Welker, Rose Cassioppi, Nyla Valencia, Brianna and Emilie Gonzalez, Reese Larramendy, Marlynne Deede, Felicity Taylor and Ava Bayless and recent transfer Macey Kilty all qualified for the Olympic Trials, and only two of them (Taylor and Deede) exhausted their eligibility this spring. Kilty reached the Olympic Trials final before losing to Elor and becoming her training partner for the Olympics.
With her former training center, Sunkist Kids, shutting down, Blades said she knew she wanted to come to Iowa after speaking with Hawkeye women's coach Clarissa Chun. Once NIL and other logistics were sorted out, Blades made the commitment shortly before heading out to the Olympics.
"It was really nice because I had the whole Iowa Hawkeyes behind my back going into the Olympics, me and Spencer Lee," Blades said. "It was pretty great to just have two athletes in different genders."
Lee took a silver medal in men's freestyle on Friday.
While Blades was widely considered as one of the premier talents of wrestling, she had never made a senior-level team until the Olympics, casting a shade of doubt on how far talent alone would take her. She has proven any of those concerns to be misguided and is adding to an already strong presence in the Iowa women's wrestling program.
"(There's) so many hours I've been putting into training, I want it to be worth it," Blades said. "I don't want to just go back home with a silver. I want gold because that was my mentality the whole time. I'm just going to go out there and have fun and just let it fly. No matter what happens, I'm still young, this is my first Olympics, so I don't even put any pressure (on myself)."
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him atEmckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at@EMcKown23.
