Wrestlers Spencer Woods, Alan Vera and Cohlton Schultz obtain Paris 2024 quotas for USA at Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier
The wrestlers' wins secured the first Paris 2024 Greco-Roman quotas for Team USA. Wednesday's events kicked off a busy week of wrestling in Acapulco, Mexico.
The United States obtained three Olympic quotas in Greco-Roman wrestling on Wednesday (28 Feb) thanks to big wins at the Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier in Acapulco, Mexico. Heading into Wednesday’s matches, the U.S. had not secured any Olympic quotas in Greco-Roman wrestling, but that changed quickly thanks to dominating performances from U.S. wrestlers.
- As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
Spencer Woods got the first big win for Team USA of the night. He started the 87 kg match in a deficit to Cuba’s 2-23 Pan-American Games champion Daniel Gregorich Hechavarria, who scored a takedown early. But Woods scored a passivity point in the second period, then earned more points on a foul by Hechavarria. Woods held to win 6-3, obtaining the first quota of the qualifiers for the United States.
At 97 kg, Alan Vera notched a dominant win over Luillys Perez Mora from Venezuela. In the first period, Cuba-born American Vera earned a quick seven points by getting three successive gut wrenches. He held onto the lead for the rest of the match, and won 7-1 to secure a second quota for the U.S.
“This is really emotional for me. I missed my chance for Tokyo 2021, but I don’t give up. I said, OK. I’ll do what I have to do. I just went on the mat and did what I’ve known how to do for 20 years,” Vera said after the win.
Cohlton Schultz takes a close win at 130 kg
The final wrestler to obtain a quota for the U.S. was Cohlton Schultz at 130 kg, who squeaked out a win over Venezuela’s Moises Perez Hellburg. The two wrestlers were evenly matched and had a hard time finding a way to score points, with each only scoring a passivity point early on. In the second period, Schultz managed to push Perez Hellburg out of bounds to earn a point, and that was enough to earn a 2-1 win.
The U.S. did not fare as well in earlier matches. At 60 kg, Ildar Hafizov lost to Cuba’s Kevin de Armas in the quarterfinal. When attempting a throw in the 67 kg weight class, Alejandro Sancho was pinned by Cuba’s Nestor Almanza Truyiol in the second period of their quarterfinal. At 77 kg, Kamal Bey lost to Colombia’s Jair Alexis Cuero, 6-4.
The format for this tournament was different than most wrestling events. United World Wrestling adopted a format for the continental qualifiers where the semifinal bouts were the qualifying bouts. Winners of the semifinals had obtained a quota for their country. There were no repechage matches for wrestlers who lost in the early rounds, and no gold or bronze medal matches were contested.
The tournament will continue on Thursday with women’s wrestling taking the mat. Americans Amit Elor and Kayla Miracle will be among the women who will try to obtain quotas for their countries for Paris 2024.