Penn State's Zain Retherford to Wrestle for Bronze at Paris Olympics

After losing his opening bout, Retherford gets a second chance in the 65 kg freestyle weight class.

Zain Retherford walks onto the mat for a 65 kg freestyle match at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials. / Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

After losing his opening match of the Paris Olympics, Zain Retherford gets a fresh shot at winning a bronze medal in men's freestyle wrestling. The three-time NCAA champion from Penn State will compete in Sunday's repechage of the 65 kg weight class with a chance to bring home a medal.

Retherford will wrestle Islam Dudaev of Albania in Sunday morning's repechage round, with the winner earning a spot in a bronze-medal match. Both wrestlers lost to Rahman Amouzadkhalili but were pulled back into the tournament after the No. 2 seed from Iran reached the gold-medal final. The Retherford-Dudaev match is scheduled for Sunday's first session, which begins at 5 a.m. ET, and will be streamed on Peacock and the NBC Sports app.

Retherford and Dudaev ran into difficult bouts with Amouzadkhalili, who won his three bouts Saturday by a combined score of 29-0. Retherford, who fell to Amouzadkhalili 8-0, was the only wrestler not to lose by technical superiority.

Retherford earned his spot on Team USA by winning the 65 kg title at the U.S. Olympic Trials in April and then winning a qualifier in Turkey a few weeks later. Retherford defeated former Penn State teammate Nick Lee in the best-of-three series at the Trials. Lee, now a Penn State wrestling assistant coach, is serving as Retherford's training partner in Paris.

Dudaev, seeded seventh in the 65 kg Olympics field, won his opening bout before falling to Amouzadkhalili in the semifinals. The 2024 European champion at 65 kg, Dudaev competed at the same qualifying tournament in Turkey as Retherford. The two did not meet at the event.

Retherford likely will punctuate his wrestling career Sunday in Paris. He nearly retired from freestyle wrestling last year after winning a world championship at 70 kg. However, the coaching and training staff of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club created a plan for Retherford to drop to 65 kg for the Olympic Trials.

"I’m just giving my all to this," the 28-year-old Retherford said at the Trials. "I didn’t know if this would be my last time competing. I'm just grateful for every opportunity I have and I'm making the most of it."

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