{"id":31355,"date":"2021-08-04T20:06:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T20:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=31355"},"modified":"2021-08-04T20:06:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T20:06:10","slug":"tamyra-mensah-stock-first-u-s-black-woman-to-win-wrestling-gold","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/tamyra-mensah-stock-first-u-s-black-woman-to-win-wrestling-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamyra Mensah-Stock Becomes First U.S. Black Woman To Win Wrestling Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gold medalist USA’s Tamyra Mariama Mensah-Stock poses with her medal after the women’s freestyle 68kg wrestling competition of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo. (Photo by JACK GUEZ\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When U.S. wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock won gold in the women\u2019s 68-kilogram freestyle final, she became the second woman\u2014and the first Black woman\u2014to win an Olympic wrestling gold for the United States. To her, her win is yet another glowing triumph for representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese young women are going to see themselves in a number of ways and they\u2019re going to look up there and go, I can do that,\u201d Mensah-Stock told\u00a0AP News<\/em><\/a>\u00a0of her historic victory. \u201cI can see myself.\u201d Mensah-Stock defeated second-seed\u00a0Blessing Oborududu 4-1 after garnering points with two takedowns in the first period of the match. Neither athlete was able to score a point in the second period.<\/p>\n

With a silver medal, Oborududu also clinched an unprecedented win and became the first Nigerian athlete to win an Olympic medal in wrestling. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at us representing,\u2019\u201d\u00a0Mensah-Stock said of the athletes\u2019\u00a0history-making medals.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s so freaking awesome. You\u2019re making history, I\u2019m making history. We\u2019re making history. So it meant a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mensah-Stock, the No. 1 seed, defeated a bevy of heavy hitters. She first defeated Japan\u2019s Sara Dosho\u2014a 2016 Olympic gold medalist\u201410-0 in the first round. She went on to beat China\u2019s Feng Zhao 10-0 in the quarterfinals and then beat Ukraine\u2019s Alla Cherkasova\u2014a former world champion\u201410-4 in the semifinal before she finally faced off with Oborududu in the final round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019ve got to beat the best to know that you\u2019re the best,\u201d Mensah-Stock continued. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I keep telling myself. It doesn\u2019t matter the draw. You go out there and you beat whoever is in front of you because that\u2019s how you tell somebody that you were the best. I\u2019m the bad draw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the\u00a0Tokyo Olympics<\/a>\u00a0languished in pandemic-postponement in 2020, its anticipated return has delivered a host of historic wins. U.S. gymnast\u00a0Sunisa Lee<\/a>\u00a0arrived to Tokyo as the first Hmong-American to secure a spot with Team USA. The 18-year-old later won gold in the gymnastics\u2019 individual all-around competition as the first Hmong-American to ever clinch such victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29094,"featured_media":31371,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38,16],"yoast_head":"\nTamyra Mensah-Stock Becomes First U.S. Black Woman To Win Wrestling Gold - Grazia USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"U.S. wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock gold win in the women's 68-kilogram freestyle final, she became the first Black woman to win an Olympic wrestling gold for the United States.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/tamyra-mensah-stock-first-u-s-black-woman-to-win-wrestling-gold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tamyra Mensah-Stock Becomes First U.S. Black Woman To Win Wrestling Gold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"U.S. wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock gold win in the women's 68-kilogram freestyle final, she became the first Black woman to win an Olympic wrestling gold for the United States.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/tamyra-mensah-stock-first-u-s-black-woman-to-win-wrestling-gold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grazia USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1332235867.jpg?fit=3248%2C2165\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2165\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/tamyra-mensah-stock-first-u-s-black-woman-to-win-wrestling-gold\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/tamyra-mensah-stock-first-u-s-black-woman-to-win-wrestling-gold\/\",\"name\":\"Tamyra Mensah-Stock Becomes First U.S. Black Woman To Win Wrestling Gold - 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