Spencer Lee And His Path To Olympic Wrestling Gold: Here's a Breakdown
Spencer Lee And His Path To Olympic Wrestling Gold: Here's a Breakdown
A breakdown of the draw for Team USA wrestler Spencer Lee at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Spencer Lee will wrestle in the 57 kg weight class at the Paris Olympics. Lee will start his tournament on Thursday, August 8 with the opening rounds starting at 5:00 am (ET). Check out the below article for a full breakdown of Spencer Lee’s draw in the 57 kg Olympic bracket.
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57 kg Olympic Bracket
Round 1 Match - Wanhao Zou, CHN
Spencer’s first-round opponent will be a rematch from the Last Chance Qualifier against China’s Wanhao Zou. In that match, Zou got out to a 6-1 lead in the first period before Spencer stormed back with a takedown to 3 leg laces to take a 10-6 lead into the break. Lee ended up holding on to win 10-9 but this was an incredibly close match. This will be a challenging test for Lee and Zou showed in the Olympic Qualifier he’s right there with Lee.
Spencer Lee's win over Wanhao Zou at the Last Olympic Games Qualifier:
Quarterfinal Match - Winner of Meirambek Kartbay, KAZ/Bekzat Almaz Uulu, KAZ
Neither Almaz Uulu or Kartbay have any senior world or Olympic medals to their name. Almaz Uulu is the favorite in that match as a two-time U23 World bronze medalist and also defeated Kartbay last year (8-5). Beyond that, Almaz Uulu also has a win on his ledger over Vito Arujau at the 2022 U23 World Championships.
Almaz Uulu's win over Vito Arujau at the 2022 U23 World Championships:
Semifinal Match - Abdullaev, UZB/Rzazade, AZE/Bravo-Young, MEX/Harutyunyan, ARM
The above four wrestlers are all potential opponents Lee could face in the semifinals. Of those, Harutyunyan is the most credentialed as a three-time world bronze medalist. RBY is untested on the international scene and will have Harutyunyan first round. That match will be a great test for Bravo-Young and will tell us if he’s a serious contender in Paris.
Rzazade and Abdullaev are also legitimate threats to make the semis. Rzazade recently defeated Abdullaev at the Ranking Series tournament in June and because of that might be the slight favorite here. However, Abdullaev shouldn’t be underestimated. Abdullaev has several ranked wins and was just seconds away from defeating eventual Olympic Champion Zaur Uguev during their quarterfinal bout in Tokyo before he gave up a late four-pointer and lost on criteria. It’s obviously too early to predict, but whoever Lee wrestles in the semis will be tough.
Potential Finals Breakdown
The other side of the bracket has far more credentialed wrestlers with Rei Higuchi and Zelimkhan Abakarov as the main contenders to make the finals. Higuchi won a silver medal at the Olympics in 2016, was silver last year at worlds, and a world champ in 2022 (at 61kg). Abakarov won a bronze medal last year at worlds and was a world champ in 2022 where he defeated Thomas Gilman in the finals. With that in mind, Lee’s absolutely on the right side of the bracket and has a more navigable path to the finals than if he were up top with Higuchi and Abakarov.
Abakarov's win over Thomas Gilman at the 2022 World Championships:
