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Burroughs as good as his word for gold in 75kg freestyle wrestling
Jordan Burroughs, the poster boy of American wrestling, lived up to all the pre-London 2012 hype by adding Olympic gold to his world title in the men's 74kg freestyle category on Friday.
Jordan Burroughs, the poster boy of American wrestling, lived up to all the pre-London 2012 hype by adding Olympic gold to his world title in the men's 74kg freestyle category on Friday.
The 24-year-old from New Jersey, whose Twitter handle is àalliseeisgold, was too fast for Iran's Sadegh Gourdazi at the Excel Arena, saving his best for last as he won 3-0 in a repeat of last year's world championship final.
The bronze medals went to Russia's Denis Tsargush and Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan.
Burroughs, who only started competing at international level two years ago, had been promised a cheque for $250,000 by USA Wrestling if he won in London.
Sporting contests between the United States and Iran have often had an extra element of tension because of the fraught political relations between the two countries for the past 30 years.
But the agile Burroughs established an early lead and, with 10 seconds of the contest remaining, drove Sadegh to the mat to set the seal on his victory with the Iranian unable to take advantage of a cut above Burroughs's left eye which had worsened throughout the day.
After making light work of the early rounds, Burroughs overcame a tricky quarter-final opponent in Canada's Matthew Gentry 3-1.
In the semi-finals he faced Russia's two-time world champion Denis Tsargush.
The Russian took an early lead with a force-out but Burroughs, displaying his trademark speed and agility, hit back with a takedown and force out of his own to make sure of the second period.
The American then made sure of the third period and the 24-year-old closed out victory despite a last-gasp flurry by his familiar foe.
Gourdazi, also beaten by Tsargush in the 2010 world final, defeated Hungary's Gabor Hatos 3-0 in his semi-final.
