Kennedy Blades wins silver in women’s wrestling at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris
Biles and Ledecky give us the best moments of the Olympic Games in Paris
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It’s not a gold medal, but it should still be enough to put her face on the walls of Arizona State.
At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Kennedy Blades narrowly lost 3-1 to Japan’s Yuka Kagami in the women’s freestyle wrestling -76 kilograms. It was a hard-fought battle that was decided in the final minutes, but the reigning world champion was able to defeat the 20-year-old from the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club in Tempe. With the silver medal, Blades became the second youngest American to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.
Blades was visibly disappointed after the loss. She had come to Paris with the goal of winning gold, a message she personally delivered to Sunkist Kids CEO Kim Martori-Wickey, but her performance during the tournament raised eyebrows.
Blades, who attended ASU and trained at Sunkist for the past two years, put on one of the highlights of the Olympics when she defeated Romania’s Catalina Axenete with a suplex, forcing Axenete off the mat on a stretcher. Blades won 11-0. She followed that with a 4-3 win over Cuba’s Milaimy De La Caridad Marin Potrille in the quarterfinals before defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy 8-6 in the semifinals to reach the gold medal match.
Sitting off the mat and watching, ASU wrestling coach Zeke Jones said he was in Paris as a delegate for USA Wrestling.
“It’s always great when you can take home a medal,” Jones said. “She’s an incredible competitor. Obviously she didn’t get what she wanted today. But her future looks bright. I thought she competed really well. She had the best move of the tournament. She just played a really dominant tournament.”
It was the last wrestling match of the entire tournament and the last for the famous Sunkist Kids Club. Founded in 1976 by Arizona citrus farmer Art Martori, Sunkist has produced an incredible 72 Olympians who have won 29 medals. Sunkist is ceasing operations and Blades was the last wrestler to bring home an Olympic medal.
“For Kennedy to have the chance to win the final Sunkist medal is truly a defining moment,” Jones said. “Over 40 years of great history and tradition. Sunkist is an important part of wrestling in the U.S. and around the world. For Kennedy to win silver is fantastic.”
“As a Sun Devil, a student for the last few years at ASU, where she trained with Mark Perry, who did an excellent job with her at the RTC (Regional Training Center), it was fun to watch her win the silver medal.”
Jones knows what it’s like to win a silver medal as a Sunkist Kids wrestler, having done the same at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
This is one of the reasons why his face is featured at the Ed and Nadine Carson Student-Athlete Center on the Tempe campus.
Before leaving for Paris, Blades said one of her goals was to have her face on that wall next to Jones. Although Blades decided to leave school – ASU doesn’t have a women’s wrestling program and Sunkist Kids ended – and enroll at Iowa, Jones is adamant that Blades should be at the top of his list.
“You win an Olympic silver medal, you go to ASU and you make the Wall of Honor. It speaks volumes to have Kennedy standing next to me and all of our Sun Devil greats,” Jones said.
Blades was the second Sunkist Kids athlete to win a medal in Paris. Helen Maroulis won bronze in the 57-kilogram freestyle weight class. Maroulis was the first American woman to win three medals in wrestling.
In total, Team USA won seven medals in wrestling at the 2024 Olympic Games, including four in the women’s freestyle and three in the men’s freestyle.
While Jones hasn’t left Paris to return to Phoenix yet, his attention is already turning to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and he believes the best is yet to come for Blades.
“Kennedy is 20 years old. She has a great future ahead of her,” Jones said. “What she has accomplished is history. Now she is moving on to the next phase of her career, the next four-year cycle to LA and the 2028 Olympics. I know she is very excited about it.”
“(She) and Amit Elor can really make history over the next four to eight years and we are excited to watch her do it. She will be in the running for one of the greatest of all time.”
Logan Stanley is a sports reporter for The Arizona Republic, focusing primarily on high school, ASU and Olympic sports. For ideas for human interest stories and other news stories, contact Stanley at [email protected] or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@LSscribe.
