Kennedy Blades (born September 4, 2003)[1] is an American wrestler. She won the silver medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | September 4, 2003 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Education | University of Iowa | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country |  United States | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||
| Event | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
editBlades is from Chicago, Illinois.[1] She and her younger sister, Korina, started taking Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes when she was four years old.[2] She later switched to wrestling at age seven, joining a small club in the area.[2] As there were not many girls she could wrestle against, she often trained against boys.[2] She won several championships competing against boys as a youth wrestler, including becoming the first female to win the IKWF Illinois state title, in 2016.[1][2][3][4]
Blades and her sister, also a wrestler, attended Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, the first American high school to have a girls wrestling program.[2] She said that "because there weren't any women's high school wrestling teams in the nation, we had to travel around the world to get competition" – while in high school, she competed against wrestlers from countries including Japan, Russia, Estonia, Austria and Sweden.[2] Blades won the U.S. Cadet national championship in 2018, and the U16 national championship, U17 national championship, and Junior national championship in 2019.[1]
At age 17, Blades finished runner-up at the U.S. trials for the 2020 Summer Olympics, losing to Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who went on to win the Olympic gold medal.[3] After she graduated from high school, she joined the wrestling club Sunkist Kids in Arizona and enrolled at Arizona State University.[2] Blades was the gold medalist at the 2021 U20 world championship and later won silver at the 2023 U23 world championship.[1] She also won gold at the 2023 Ibrahim Moustafa Tournament.[1] In 2024, she defeated 2020 Olympic medalist Adeline Gray at the U.S. Olympic trials, thus qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics.[5][6] Blades won the silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in the women's 76 kg weight class.[7][8]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Kennedy Blades". USA Wrestling. July 6, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Madrigal, Ashley (April 7, 2023). "Blades of glory: Wrestling sisters have big dreams, including Olympics". Cronkite News.
- ^ a b Brunt, Cliff (June 12, 2024). "'Generational talent' Kennedy Blades, 20, seeks Olympic gold in women's wrestling". Associated Press News.
- ^ "Kennedy Blades". Team USA. April 18, 2024.
- ^ Hendricks, Maggie (May 17, 2024). "U.S. wrestler Kennedy Blades: 'The goal is Olympic gold'". Olympics.com.
- ^ Pritchard, Emily (June 13, 2024). "She had so much energy as a kid her parents put her in jiujitsu classes. Now this ASU student is going to the Olympics as a wrestler". KPNX.
- ^ Khalatyan, Rafael (August 11, 2024). "Wrestling: Two golds for Japan, one for Tazhudinov". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
- ^ "Wrestling Results Book" (PDF). 2024 Summer Olympics. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 11, 2024. Retrieved August 12, 2024.