On the last day of competition in the Rio Games, Team USA finished strong, with a couple of gold medals and several bronzes added to its overall tally.
Olympic results 2016: Claressa Shields, Kyle Snyder bring home gold medals for Team USA
Shields extended her reign as women’s middleweight boxing Olympic Champion, and Snyder became the youngest American to win gold in wrestling.
Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
Claressa Shields first won gold for Team USA at the age of 17 in the London Games, and she’s done it again in Rio, defeating Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands by unanimous decision to extend her reign as the Olympic middleweight champion. With the victory, Shields becomes the first American boxer since 1904 to win two gold medals in the sport. Only Shields and Oliver Kirk, who won golds in bantam and featherweight boxing in 1904, have accomplished this feat.
Shields has a lifetime record of 77-1, and she hasn’t lost a match in over four years.
Kyle Snyder is the youngest American in history to win gold in wrestling after defeating Azerbaijan’s Khetag Gazyumov 2-1 in Sunday’s gold medal match for the 97 kg. weight class. Snyder, a 20-year-old student at Ohio State, also became the United States’ youngest world champion last fall at age 19.
Through most of the men’s basketball final, Serbia looked outmatched against the United States. Team USA had some offensive struggles early, shooting just 35 percent from the field in the first quarter and heading into the second quarter with a slight lead of 19-17. After that first quarter, the United States ran away with it. Team USA, aided by 30 points from Kevin Durant, defeated Serbia for the gold medal with a final score of 96-66.
The United States men’s volleyball team missed out on the gold medal match after blowing a late lead to Italy in semifinal play, but they rallied in the bronze medal match, coming back after Russia jumped out to a two-set lead. Team USA defeated Russia in five sets, earning the bronze medal.
Team USA’s Galen Rupp took bronze in the men’s marathon, an accomplishment made even more impressive by the fact that Sunday’s Olympic marathon was only the second time Rupp had run 26.2 miles competitively. The first was the Olympic Trials marathon in February, which he won with a time of 2:11.12. Rupp beat his Trials time in Rio, finishing the course in 2:10.05.
Rupp cited the movie Happy Gilmore as a catalyst for his success in the finals.
“He fights being a golfer for awhile, saying he’s a hockey player,” Rupp said of Adam Sandler’s character in the film. “I fought being a marathoner and wanted to run on the track, but maybe this is my best event.”
American Frank Molinaro faced Italy’s Frank Chamizo in the 65 kg. men’s freestyle wrestling bronze medal match, but lost. Chamizo is ranked No. 1 in the world and is the reigning world champion in this weight class. Molinaro lost with a final score of 5-3.
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