Clarissa Chun breaks U.S. wrestling medal drought with bronze
Clarissa Chun won bronze in the 48kg division of women's freestyle wrestling, giving the U.S. its first wrestling medal of London. Chun won her bronze-medal match 1-0, 3-0 on Wednesday at ExCeL Arena.
[Photos: Awkward wrestling moments]
Chun won her first match of the day, but dropped her second bout to Azerbaijani Mariya Stadnyk. In repechage, Chun showed off her best move of the day. She was down one period, and came up with a brilliant pin of Poland's Iwona Matowska. The win over Matowski qualified Chun for the bronze-medal match.
She has represented the U.S. for years on the Olympics and world teams. Though she has a world championship and several Pan-American medals, this is Chun's first Olympic medal.
It brightened up what had been a dismal start for U.S. wrestling. Not one Greco-Roman wrestler even made it to a medal match, much less won any hardware for the U.S. Perhaps Chun's medal will turn the momentum in the U.S. wrestlers' favor.
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