Puerto Rico’s Olympic wrestling won two silver and three bronze medals this Saturday in the men’s freestyle. Medals that are added to the silver medal achieved by Edgardo López in the Greco-Roman Olympic style wrestling.
Jovan Smith he was the last athlete to compete in a final for Puerto Rico. He did it in the 125 kilos division. The fight was lost, 3-1, against the Venezuelan José Díaz. Smith defeated Jamaican Aaron Johnson in the semifinals with a score, 3-1. In the quarterfinal round his victory was over the Nicaraguan Yadir Cerda, 10-1.
“To be very honest, I am happy to represent Puerto Rico and see the flag there. I could have done better, I wanted the gold. For me it is something sad, but for Puerto Rico it is a good day for the medals. I am happy for Puerto Rico. I expected more from myself,” Smith said as he lowered the podium.
The second silver medal went to sebastian rivera in the 65 kilos. The wrestler fell in the final, 10-0, against the Cuban Alejandro Valdez. In the semifinals he won the victory, 7-1, over the Mexican Cristian Santiago. In the first fight, Rivera beat Salvadoran Juan Rodríguez.
“It was a great competition. A great experience. I was very close to the Cuban. I will use this experience for the Pan American Games, since the Cuban will be in it. It is a new opportunity to be able to be in front of the Cuban”, commented Rivera.
In the medal harvest there are three bronze
The first wrestler to get on the matre was jacob moran of 57 kilos. The Puerto Rican won his bronze medal by defeating Venezuelan Víctor Parra, 3-2, in a tight fight. He had been withdrawn in the semifinal due to constant bleeding from a cut between his eyebrows. That fight was lost 1-0 against the Cuban Osmany Diversent.
It was in the group B phase and in the first fight against Edwin Segura from Centro Caribe Sports (Guatemala) who was injured, even so, he won 5-2. Moran’s second fight was lost 10-0 against the Dominican Juan Ramírez.
On the other hand, the leader of the Puerto Rican struggle, franklin gomez, reached bronze by defeating Colombian Hernán Guzmán, 4-2, in the 74 kilos. The now four-time medalist in the Central American and Caribbean Games with gold in Mayagüez 2010, silver in Veracruz 2014 and bronze in Barranquilla 2018, he lost in the semifinals with the Dominican Julio Rodríguez, 7-1. His first win was over Panamanian Ángel Eduardo Cortés, 5-3, in the quarterfinals.
“For me it was more important to finish as well as possible. Over the years the body begins to ache a little. Many years. The body is already asking for rest,” said the 36-year-old wrestler, whose recipe is to follow “Jesus” and remain “humble” to stay in the sport.
“I’m going to rest, talk to my coaches and my family, because my body is tired,” said Gómez when asked if he would continue for Santiago 2023.
The third bronze medal went to Ethan Ramos of the 86 kilos. The Puerto Rican defeated, 11-1, César Ubico who competes for Centro Caribe Sports (Guatemala). It is a medal with a bitter taste, since Ramos came from a semifinal where he “lost” with the Colombian Carlos Izquierdo, 7-4. In this match, trainer Franklin Lantigua was given a yellow card for requesting a video review. The Salvadoran public and other countries shouted in favor of the Puerto Rican and against the arbitration presented by the organization. Ramos had a successful start to the competition against the Mexican Christian Anguiano by beating him 7-1 in the quarterfinals.
“This competition was difficult, because my second fight was frustrating. But… I need to do more correct things to stop points against me. My bad, but I feel bad. I am grateful to God, because my body felt very bad training and before competition. Fighting, it felt good. I am grateful to God, ”Ramos spoke about his emotional and physical state.
Puerto Rico’s Olympic fight ends its participation with three silver and three bronze for a total of six medals. All in the men’s branch five in free style and one in Greco-Roman style.
