The final piece of the US men’s freestyle Olympic wrestling team came together earlier Sunday as Zain Retherford punched his ticket to Paris with a 7-0 win over Niurgun Skriabin (Belarus). With Retherford’s Olympic quota, the entire men’s freestyle team has qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games. The women’s freestyle team has all six going, as well. 
Retherford had to make the Olympic team in the most difficult way possible. With his back against the wall on Sunday, he posted four straight wins in less than three hours. 
While Retherford’s first match was the one with the least amount of drama. Retherford started his scoring barrage with a head pinch attempt from his feet which gave him four points; however, the American fans collectively held their breath for a few seconds as Retherford was in danger of giving up a fall for a few seconds. Later in the opening period, Retherford ducked under a takedown attempt from Alibeg Alibegov (Bahrain) to extend his lead to 6-2. His punishing leg ride accounted for a couple of sets of exposure points, capped off by a fall. 
Retherford’s second match was a 5-2 win over Abdulmazhid Kudeiv (Tajikistan). The former Penn State star got on the scoreboard quickly with a single leg he walked out of bounds for a step-out point. With time expiring in the first period, Retherford stayed on the offensive and claimed a takedown to take a 3-0 lead at the break. 
Retherford iced the match with another takedown via the double leg early in the second period. In the closing seconds, Kudiev got a takedown, but it wasn’t enough. 
Up next for Retherford was India’s Sujeet Kalkal. As you navigated through potential repechage matches, Kalkal appeared to be the most difficult matchup for Retherford. Like Retherford, Kalkal lost to Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) by a five-point margin. 
As expected, the Kakal matchup was the most challenging for Retherford. The two-time Hodge Trophy winner appeared to be on his way to a takedown in the opening stanza; however, Kalkal worked his magic to reverse the favor and got a takedown of his own. It accounted for the only scoring of the first period. 
Retherford struck with a takedown of his own when he threw by a Kalkal attempt. That put him ahead on criteria, though the scoreboard showed the pair knotted at two points a piece. Retherford was able to play defense for the last 1:43 of the match and got his hand raised. The win gave him a bronze medal, but it wasn’t what Retherford was worried about. He’d have to beat a fellow bronze medalist to ensure he was headed to Paris. 
After a slow start against Skriabin, the Belarussian was put on the shot clock. He couldn’t score within the allotted 30 seconds so Retherford seized a 1-0 lead. Retherford continued to pressure Skriabin and missed out on an initial attack or two, but was able to pick an ankle of his weary opponent for a takedown and a 3-0 lead. 
After the break, Skriabin took an errant shot which was stymied by Retherford for another takedown. From that point, Retherford battered Skriabin from par terre. One turn from Retherford put him up 7-0, which is how the match would end. 
Four hard-fought wins later, Retherford was headed to Paris.

The final discipline to hit the mat in the World OG Qualifier was men’s freestyle which took center stage on Saturday. The American contingent consisted of Spencer Lee at 57 kg and Zain Retherford at 65 kg. Both needed to qualify for their respective weights for the 2024 Olympic Games. 
One out of two, Lee, was able to finish the job; however, Retherford does have a chance to qualify through repechage tomorrow. 
A three-time Cadet/Junior world champion, Lee focused on his collegiate career at Iowa and did not compete internationally for six-plus years. He returned with wins at the Bill Farrell and the Pan-American Championships, earlier this year; however, he put the entire world on notice with a dominant performance in Istanbul. 
Lee started and finished his day with remarkably quick finishes. His tournament began with a :22 second tech over Morocco’s Ben Tarik. Lee worked from a front headlock to get a takedown and then proceeded to transfer into a leg lace for four turns and a quick end to the bout. 
The three-time NCAA champion lightweight only went the full distance in one of his four matches. In the Round of 16, Lee gave up a regular two-point takedown and a four-point double leg to Wanhao Zou of China. Trailing 6-2, Lee got in on a low single and was able to gather the second leg after Zou tried to kick over. He kept the leg for a takedown and also three turns to quickly jump ahead 10-6. Zou turned up the pace late in the second period; however, it wasn’t enough and he came up short, 10-9. 
Against 2022 European Champion Vladimir Egorov (North Macedonia) it was much of the same. Lee got an early takedown but really blew open the match with his skills from par terre. Initially, Lee started working with a more folkstyle-centric reinforced bar tilt and it yielded a set of exposure points, though Egorov was able to get two of his own. Lee readjusted, caught a leg lace, and then ended the contest. All in only :53 seconds. 
With an Olympic berth hanging in the balance, Lee took on Kazakhstan’s Rakhat Kalzhan. He hit his Kazakh opponent with a move that American fans have become accustomed to seeing - his dump. That hold netted him two points and then Lee moved into a trapped arm gut. Four turns later, Lee was officially headed to Paris. Once again, it was remarkably quick - only :35 seconds. 
Like Lee, Retherford had to battle back from an early deficit in his opening match. He gave up a takedown to Stefan Coman (Romania), but never wavered and imposed his will before securing a fall midway through the second stanza. 
Retherford made short work of his next opponent, Ibrahim Guzan (Yemen), needing less than a period to rack up 11 points for an 11-0 tech. 
That win set up a much-anticipated bout with 2021 World bronze medalist Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia). As expected, Tumur Ochir was a handful for the 2023 70 kg world champion. Tumur Ochir got on the board first with a takedown set up by an arm spin. Those two points were the only ones awarded during the first period. Retherford jumped ahead with a takedown from single leg with about 1:30 remaining in the contest. The Hodge Trophy winner secured the score as the final seconds were ticking off on Retherford’s shot clock. 
During the waning seconds of the bout, with Retherford leading on criteria, Tumur Ochir got in on a single leg. Retherford looked to expose the Mongolian; however, he ended up surrendering a total of four points during the exchange. A failed challenge would bring the score to 7-2 in favor of Tumur Ochir, the same score it would end at. 
Not only did Tumur Ochir win, but he won his next match which locked up a quota for Paris. With his win, Retherford was pulled back into repechage. He’ll face Alibeg Alibegov (Bahrain) in his first match tomorrow. Retherford will need to win four matches to book his trip to Paris.

Friday marked the final day of competition in Greco-Roman from the Last Olympic Games Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey. That means that the entire field has been determined for Greco-Roman at the 2024 Olympic Games. With that being said, below are the countries that have qualified for the Olympics in Greco, who earned that qualification quota, and when. 
As a reminder, though the wrestler earns a quota for their country, it doesn't necessarily mean that they will be the ones wrestling in Paris; however, in many countries that is the case. In the three weights where the United States qualified, none of the wrestlers that earned the quota's won the Olympic Trials. In those instances, another column has been added to denote the wrestler who won the Trials. 
60 kg

67 kg

 
77 kg

87 kg

97 kg

130 kg