Team USA remained in second place behind the People's Republic of China in the gold medal race heading into the penultimate day of the Tokyo Olympics. The Americans grabbed two golds on Day 14 thanks to wrestler Gable Steveson and the beach volleyball pair of April Ross and Alix Klineman to boost their medal haul in the Tokyo Games to 31 golds, 36 silvers, and 31 bronzes.
The Chinese maintained their five-gold advantage at the top of the leaderboard after Day 14 as they now boast of a total haul of 36 golds, 26 silvers, and 17 bronze medals. Japan continued its fine showing in Tokyo, with the host nation collecting 24 golds, 11 silvers, and 16 bronze medals thus far.
Steveson produces late rally to win gold in wrestling
Gable Steveson produced on Friday what might be the most stunning comeback in this year's Olympics to claim an unlikely gold medal for Team USA in wrestling. Steveson looked out of it in the final of the men's freestyle 125-kilogram class, trailing 8-5 with 10 seconds remaining against Georgia's Geno Petriashvili.
The 21-year-old American did not panic, though, taking control of the contest in the dying seconds with a series of jaw-dropping moves. Steveson sliced the deficit to a single point after scoring on a spin-behind takedown before snatching the gold medal with the same move with just 0.3 seconds left in the clock.
The stunned Georgian challenged Steveson's final points, but that proved unsuccessful, handing the American yet another point. That gave Steveson a whopping five points in the final 10 seconds to turn what was supposed to be a silver into gold.
Steveson entered this contest in fine form, outscoring his opponents 23-0 in the first three rounds and dismantling 2016 Olympic champion Taha Akgul 8-0 in the quarterfinals. He had to work for it in the final, though, against Petriashvili, who is a three-time world champion and the No. 1 seed.
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Klineman and Ross reign supreme in beach volleyball
Also winning gold for Team USA on Day 14 were Alix Klineman and April Ross, who captured the title in women's beach volleyball. Playing in hot conditions, the Americans cruised to a 21-15, 21-16 victory over the Australian duo of Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in a match that lasted just 43 minutes.
The Californian pair restored Team USA's dominance in the sport in an emphatic fashion, with Klineman and Ross dropping just one set in seven matches played in Tokyo. Ross made history with the win as the 39-year-old became the first beach volleyball player in the history of the Olympics to claim a medal with three different partners.
Ross won silver with Jen Kessy in the 2012 London Olympics and captured the bronze in the 2016 Rio Games with Kerri Walsh Jennings.
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