Ogunwole Takes Bronze

After finishing the 2004-05 season with a 22-5 record, junior captain heavyweight wrestler Bode Ogunwole is accustomed to a leadership role on the Harvard wrestling team. But at the Junior World Freestyle Championships last week, Ogunwole found himself in a new position—leading not the Crimson, but the United States.

Ogunwole took home a bronze medal from the championships, which were held in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 5 and 6.

“I felt good that I was able to win a medal for America but I wish it had been gold,” Ogunwole wrote in an e-mail.

Following a loss in the semifinals to Georgia’s Betshana Karanadze, Ogunwole was knocked out of gold or silver medal contention. And his bronze medal opponent, Turkey’s Yasin Kilic, made Ogunwole’s road to the podium as long and difficult as possible.

Ogunwole entered the match still feeling the sting of defeat, and after taking a 1-0 lead over Kilic at the end of the first period, he started to slip.

“I think I was still thinking about my loss in the match before which caused me to start off slowly in the match. For some reason I completely lost all my energy at the end of the second period and losing [the previous match] didn’t help,” Ogunwole wrote.

Though his strength and endurance were failing, his tank was not yet completely empty. As the third period drew to a close, Ogunwole took down Kilic with a three-point move. He was then able to fight off his opponents’ subsequent attempts to regain points and secure the bronze.

Only in victory did exhaustion finally set in.

“I was happy to have won but I didn’t have any energy to celebrate,” Ogunwole wrote. “I just sat down at the edge of the mat, which I have never done in my life.”

Ogunwole’s energy had been sapped by a long tournament, fought against what he called “the best [competition] I’ve ever experienced.”

Ogunwole dropped out of championship contention by falling in clinches to eventual runner-up Karanadze, who won coin tosses for 1-0 advantages in the second and third periods to overcome a 2-1 first period deficit and defeat the American.

“In the second and third period neither of us scored a point in the two minutes so the referee flipped a coin, which [Karanadze] won both times,” Ogunwole wrote. “Basically he was given a far better advantage and he took advantage of it to win both of the periods.”

Ogunwole had opened the tournament by winning three consecutive matches, beginning with a 2-0, 1-0 win over Iran’s Hajinia Osbo Askari.

The tournament’s basic format did not work to Ogunwole’s advantage.

“He had an exhausting tournament for a heavyweight,” USA Wrestling Freestyle Developmental Coach Dave Bennett said. “He didn’t have much time between his matches. He sucked it up when he had to.”

Ogunwole had what it took.

“He’s extremely athletic for a 265-pounder,” said Harvard wrestling coach Jay Weiss. “I still think he doesn’t know how good he is or how good he can be.”

Even when Ogunwole had recovery time, it wasn’t always in ideal conditions.

“Usually in the United States they have smoke-free areas set aside for warm ups that are next to the mats for the matches. In Lithuania, people were smoking constantly next to the warm-up mats which made it really hard to warm up,” he said.

Going to the mat with the best young competition in the world was a challenge for Ogunwole, who just missed All-American status at the 2005 NCAAs. But the wrestler said he has his sights set on next season—when he’ll have to adjust back to more endurance-focused American wrestling—rather than the highest ranks of the international circuit.

“He placed third in the world. His confidence level’s gotta be sky high,” Weiss said.

The sky could be the limit—although Ogunwole’s goals aren’t as high-flown.

“Representing the USA was a big honor and it was definitely in the back of my mind throughout the tournament,” Ogunwole wrote, though he added that it isn’t something he plans to make too much a habit of. “I don’t have any Olympic aspirations.”

In the last National Wrestling Coaches Association poll, released in March, Ogunwole was ranked No. 11 in his weight class in NCAA Division I.

“This kinda opens his eyes up a little bit. Winning a national title is definitely in his reach,” Weiss said.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.