American amateur wrestling has found its next superstar. At the 2020 summer Olympics (held in 2021), 21-year old Gable Steveson captured Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling when he defeated three-time world champion Geno Petriashvili in the literal last second of the finals. Watch Steveson’s spectacular takedown as time expired below.
The match started slowly, with neither man launching any serious attacks through the first 90 seconds. Steveson would jump out to a 4-0 lead on the strength of a takedown and two penalty points scored against Petriashvili. In the second round, though, Petriashvili scored his own takedowns and turns, giving him a commanding 8-5 lead with less than 20 seconds remaining.
In just a matter of seconds, Steveson scored a takedown to cut Petriashivili’s lead to a single point. Then, in the literal last second of the match, Steveson scored a spin-behind takedown to win the match and Olympic gold.
Aptly named Gable Dan after legendary wrestler and coach Dan Gable, Steveson is undefeated this year after going 17-0 in NCAA Division 1 competition to win his first national championship for the University of Minnesota. He won third place at the NCAA championships in 2019.
Steveson’s gold medal adds to an impressive overall Olympic performance for Team USA. All of the five Team USA wrestlers earned a spot on the medal stand, and Team USA captured nine medals total across men’s and women’s freestyle, as well as Greco Roman wrestling.
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