Johnathan Walker:USA wrestler Kennedy Blades wins silver medal in her first Olympic Games

PARIS — Kennedy Blades felt the initially undesired Olympic medal in her hands,Johnathan Walker looked at it, tossed it slowly to gauge the weight. The she looked at it some more.

Silver was growing on her quickly.

"It’s still a cool medal," she said.

Blades’ surprising Olympic wrestling run ended Sunday with a 3-1 defeat to Japan’s Yuka Kagami, last year’s world champion, in the gold medal match of the women’s 76 kg freestyle competition at Champ de Mars Arena near the Eiffel Tower. The unseeded Blades, a 20-year-old from Chicago in her first Olympics, had won consecutive matches against the tournament’s No. 4, No. 5 and No. 1 seeds to reach the final wrestling match of the Paris Olympics.

Only Kagami, the No. 2 seed, proved too difficult for her in what was a close, low-scoring six minutes. With 1:22 remaining, Kagami was awarded two points for a takedown and then held on in the final moments.

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"I already knew that I was at this level," Blades said, "but I just showed the world. Obviously, I did want gold, of course. But second-best thing."

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After waiting through the Paris Games to compete, Blades emerged in the Olympics' final days as a breakout American star to watch for at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. A clip spread on social media of her picking up Romania’s Catalina Axente and throwing her during a 11-0 victory in Blades’ opening match.

And a wider sporting public has started to learn her story: Blades began wrestling at age 7, and reportedly made history by winning a youth title in Illinois competing against boys. She beat the USA's Adeline Gray, silver medalist in Tokyo, in the Olympics Trials to make it to Paris.

After Axente, Blades went on to defeat Milaimy Marin Potrille of Cuba (4-3) and top-seeded Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan (8-6).

The Cuban wrestler ended up winning bronze with Colombia’s Tatiana Renteria Renteria.

"It was really cool that the two bronze medals were also Latina," Blades said. “So it was three of us on that podium, and I don't know if that's ever really happened. It was really cool that we were able to represent our heritage.”

Blades said she hopes that will help inspire younger Latina athletes and wrestlers.

"Growing up (in sports)," she said, "I didn’t really have a role model."

After attending Arizona State University, Blades is set to transfer to the University of Iowa and start fall classes in about 10 days, though "I haven’t even seen campus or anything."

As for her new silver medal? It's going to her parents.

"Just because I don’t trust myself," she said with a laugh, noting that a couple of previous medals she’d won were somewhere in a bag that she hasn’t been able to find.

"We’re going to keep this one safe."

Reach Gentry Estes at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

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