Final day gives U.S. three more medals; Marano wins ninth-world level medal
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by InterMat
On a warm Sunday evening at the Heydar Aliyev Sport and Exhibition Complex in Baku, Azerbaijan, the 2007 World Wrestling Championships came to an end, but it was bittersweet for all three American women wrestling on the tournament’s final day.
Marano finished second at 72kg, while Sara McMann (63kg) and Katie Downing (67kg) earned bronze medal finishes to rally from Saturday’s goose egg in the medal column.
“I thought we competed better today,” said U.S. Wrestling National Women’s Freestyle Coach Terry Steiner. “They came back today with some fight and what we talked about yesterday. You can’t wrestle thinking so much and let your work take over your reactions and we created more battles. We did a better job of that, had some good wins today.”
Marano, a two-time World Champion and now five-time silver medalist, was beaten 3-0, 3-0 in the finals at 72kg by Bulgaria’s Stanka Zlateva. A gold might have been more fitting, since Marano tied Bruce Baumgartner’s American record for career medals at the World Championships with nine.
Baumgartner still holds the overall World and Olympic medal record with 13, something the 28-year-old Marano still has a shot at taking down eventually, but Sunday, she wasn’t thinking about any records.
“I didn’t know that, but I think it’s pretty good,” said Marano, trying to get a laugh out following the finals.
“I just didn’t wrestle very well, I don’t know,” she said. “I didn’t wrestle her well a month ago, I got pinned. I don’t know … I just … didn’t get things going.”
The win gave Zlateva her second straight world title.
“It’s adding fuel to my fire,” said Marano. “Stuff like this tears you down so you can bring it back up. It’s definitely a step up from last year. Obviously there’s room for major improvement, but I’m going to keep working hard for next year.”
Zlateva neutralized Marano’s signature move, an arm-throw that resulted in two falls earlier in the tournament.
“She was definitely tying up my gripping hand,” said Marano. “It’s going to make me open up and work on some other things.”
McMann had the misfortune of drawing nemesis Kaori Icho of Japan in the opening round, then had to wait until Icho made the finals to get a crack at the repechage and battle for the bronze.
Seeing Icho early wasn’t a surprise for McMann.
“Of course,” McMann said to herself after seeing the draw. “Last year was the first time I didn’t draw a World Champion in the first match.”
“Some people get blessed with easy draws and some people get tougher draws, and I’m one of those people that get the tough draws, but at this point, I’m just used to it,” she added.
McMann pinned two straight opponents before topping France’s Lise Legrand Golliot 2-1, 4-1 to get back on the medal stand after missing it last year in Guangzhou.
But McMann readjusted after the opening round loss when a World Championship was no longer attainable.
“I reset my focus instantly because I have to qualify my weight class,” said McMann. “Apart from my personal goals, there are other goals that I had to make no matter what I was feeling like.”
“My team needed the points, we had some hard things going the day before, those girls worked their butts off and gave us as many points as they could, and it was only fair that I give as many points as I could too,” added McMann.
The former Lock Haven wrestler wowed teammates and fans alike with her victory over China’s Haiyan Xu to reach the final bronze match.
After losing the first period 4-2, McMann drove Xu over early in the second – real early, as in 12 seconds early – to score the fall and advance. Xu was the 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist.
“You drill all these moves, I work on so many moves, but the thing I hit to pin her was pure wrestling instinct,” explained McMann.
It’s something McMann’s boyfriend, Limestone College assistant coach Trent Goodale calls “the … factor.” That “factor” today for McMann was on old-school pancake.
Downing’s second world medal came via a tough three-period bout with Japan’s Yoshiko Inoue. Downing won the first period with a takedown, countering a Inoue shot, locking up a front headlock, snapping and spinning to win the first period 1-0. She did the same in the second and was 13 seconds away from wrapping up her bronze in two periods, but Inoue snatched up Downing’s leg, scrambled and drove Downing out of bounds with only four seconds left in the period for the winning pushout.
In the third, a takedown with 21 seconds to go with a snap and spin gave Downing the win.
“I was very impressed with (Downing), but I wouldn’t expect anything less from Katie, that’s who she is,” said Steiner. “She is a person with character, she is our leader. It’s good to see that. You want to see a person like that leave with something in their hands.”
“It’s disappointing because I came here for gold, but bronze is probably better than silver because you get to rectify your situation,” said Downing. “I feel like I’ve improved my wrestling overall, I feel I’m better than last year, even 2005, but I definitely have some work to do on specific opponents.”
“Some of the harder wrestling you ever have to do is when you have to go through the wrestle backs. You still have a job to do, but you’re crushed on the inside too,” said Downing. “I felt a little disappointment in myself, I had her all the way. I was ready to do six minutes the whole time.”
Overall, Steiner felt his team still has some work to do before Beijing next August.
“We made some mistakes, we scored a lot of points for Bulgaria in the final. Took some shots that really weren’t there against Japan,” said Steiner. “We can correct mistakes. Too bad they happen here, but in some of the rounds that happened before, especially yesterday, the girls never competed and turned it into a fight. That’s our style of wrestling and we need to do that.”
Said Marano summing up the day: “It’s not the medals we wanted, but hey, it’s three medals, that’s pretty good.”
In every event.