PARIS— It was another day of heartbreak, August 10 at the Champ-de-Mars Arena, as for the second day in a row, a Canadian nearly earned an Olympic wrestling bronze medal. This time it was Coquitlam, British Columbia’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez who won her repechage in the morning only to come up short in the 62kg bronze medal match.

Godinez Gonzalez, from Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, began the day with a solid 2-0 win over Romania’s Kriszta Incze. That advanced her to the bronze medal match against Norway’s Grace Bullen. The two had previously met in June with Godinez Gonzalez earning the win on that occasion. However, there would be no repeat at the 2024 Games, as Bullen took the match 11-0.

Afterwards, Godinez Gonzalez’ coach Raj Virdi talked about the effort Godinez Gonzalez has put in during her career to get to this point.

“It is obviously disappointing for her,” said Virdi. “For every athlete, this is the pinnacle of all sport – coming to the Olympic Games. She started wrestling seven or eight years ago and she has put every single thing: blood, sweat and tears into this sport. Coming up short is very sad for an athlete.”

Earlier on in the day, Surrey, British Columbia’s Amar Dhesi faced Aiaal Lazarev of Kyrgyzstan in a repechage match at 125kg. Unfortunately for Dhesi, from Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, Lazarev got the better of him, winning by fall, ending Dhesi’s competition.

The final member of team Canada to compete at Paris 2024 was Burnaby, British Columbia’s Justina Di Stasio who took on Yasemin Adar of Turkey in the women’s 76kg weight class. Di Stasio, a former world champion, was making her Olympic debut but was in tough with Adar. The Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club member came up short losing 8-2. After Adar was eliminated in the quarterfinal, Di Stasio’s tournament also ended, as there would be no repechage.

Afterwards, she spoke about the experience. “I wanted a better result today, but I could not have prepared any better. I am so proud of my team and my coaches for getting me ready because I did feel like I gave it my all out there.  Once I get over the loss, I think I will be very proud about the entire time that I have been wrestling.”

Wrestling Canada Lutte would like to thank all members of the team for representing Canada proudly. Thanks also to all the coaches, training partners and support staff, along with the Canadian Olympic Committee for helping prepare our athletes. WCL looks forward to improving over the next quad and coming back stronger for Los Angeles 2028.