2024 Olympics wrestling live updates: Iowa’s Kennedy Blades goes for gold Sunday morning

Six minutes is all Kennedy Blades has left to get wrestling’s ultimate prize.

The future Hawkeye, who committed to the Iowa program a month ago, cut her way through the bracket Saturday to reach Sunday’s Olympic gold medal match and secure at least a silver medal. With Spencer Lee securing silver on Friday, this is the first time since 2000 (Terry Brands and Lincoln Mcllravy) that more than one Hawkeye wrestler has medaled in the same cycle.

“It was really nice because I had the whole Iowa Hawkeyes behind my back going into the Olympics, me and Spencer Lee,” Blades said. “It was pretty great to just have two athletes in different genders.”

At 20 years old, Blades is looking to join Amit Elor and Sarah Hilebrandt as gold medalists for Team USA.

“(There’s) so many hours I’ve been putting into training, I want it to be worth it,” Blades said. “I don’t want to just go back home with a silver. I want gold because that was my mentality the whole time. I’m just going to go out there and have fun and just let it fly. No matter what happens, I’m still young, this is my first Olympics, so I don’t even put any pressure (on myself).”

For the sport’s biggest honor, Blades will have to defeat Japan’s Yuka Kagami, 22, the reigning World champion at 76 kilograms.

Blades’ gold-medal match will be in the one and only session of Day 7 of wrestling at the Olympics, the 4 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. window (CT). Keep it here for updates on when she is set to wrestle and how Team USA does as they wrap up a long week of wrestling.

Who is Kennedy Blades?

Kennedy Blades committed to the Hawkeyes in July following a stint with the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club out of high school and attending Arizona State University. She qualified for the Olympics in April by defeating Adeline Gray, a six-time World champion and a 2020 Olympic silver medalist. While Blades lost to Gray at the 2020 Olympic Trials, then at the age of 17, she got her redemption by beating one of the United States’ all-time best wrestlers.

Blades, 20, is one of the premier talents of the sport as a Junior World champion in 2021, but had never made a senior-level team until making the Olympic team.

“This was honestly my goal since I was seven. 2024 was definitely my goal,” Blades said. “I’ve never even made a Senior World team, so it’s just amazing to think I made an Olympic team.”

Before she even becomes a Hawkeye, she has won at least a silver medal at the Olympics. She’s the 12th Hawkeye wrestler to medal at the Olympics and with the exception of Iowa women’s wrestling coaches Clarissa Chun and Tonya Verbeek, she’s the first women’s wrestler for Iowa to medal at the Olympics.

Who is Zain Retherford?

The former Penn State star, who won three NCAA championships, is hoping to remain on top of the world.

He is the reigning World champion at 70 kilograms, but he’s the Team USA representative at 65 kilograms in Paris. He won a World silver in 2022 as well.

After losing in round one to Iran’s Rahman Mousa Amouzadkhalili, Retherford has been pulled back into the repechage and will have to win two matches to take bronze.

Who is Kyle Snyder?

We’ve had Michigan Wolverines compete, now it’s time for a Buckeye. The former Ohio State star, who won three NCAA titles, is Team USA’s representative at 97 kilograms. He has won three World Championships, an Olympic gold in 2016 and an Olympic silver in 2020.

He reached the semifinals, but fell short to Iran phenom Iran’s Bahrain’s Akhmed Tazhudinov and will need to win one match to secure bronze for the USA.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.