Zain Retherford wins four straight matches in three and a half hours to qualify for Paris Olympics 2024

Zain Retherford's golden moment has finally arrived as the Wisconsin native is all set to represent the USA Wrestling team at the 2024 Paris Olympics from the 65kg freestyle category. Retherford joins the list with Spencer Lee (57kg category) to book an Olympic berth at the ongoing World Olympic Qualifier games in Istanbul.

Even though Retherford was one of the favorites from the 65kg category going into the tournament, he had to deal with some really tough blokes to earn his much-awaited first Olympic berth. In the Olympic playoff match, the Nittany Lions wrestler was up against the 2020 European Championships silver medalist Niurgun Skriabin.

The 28-year-old wrestler wasted no time as he dominated the Belarusian for most of the match before defeating Skriabin with a margin of 7-0 to clinch his fourth consecutive win at the World Olympic Qualifier games which cemented his place in the greatest sporting of the year in France.

The Wisconsin native became the fourth wrestler from the Nittany Lions Wrestling Club after four-time World Championships gold medalist winner Kyle Dake (74kg category), Aaron Brooks (86kg category), and Kyle Snyder to earn a quota for the Paris Olympics 2024.

Zain Retherford's qualification also meant that the US Wrestling team would have representation in each of the six weight brackets in the Olympics (57kg, 65kg, 74kg, 86kg, 97kg, 120kg).

Zain Retherford's superb run at the World Olympic Qualifier games in Istanbul

Zain Retherford at the Final X Wrestling event in 2023

On the back of a superb performance in the US Olympic Wrestling trials, Zain Retherford reached Istnabul in red-hot form and he made sure that he didn't mess up in the qualifying event for the Olympics.

Retherford started off his run in the World Olympic Qualifier games with a win over Behrain's Alibeg Alibegov. The Wisconsin native defeated the 2021 U20 World Championships bronze medalist comprehensively with a margin of 4-2 in just 2:37.

The next opponent in Retherford's way was the 2023 U23 Asian Championships gold medal winner from Tajikistan, Abdulmazhid Kudiev. Retherford once again raced to victory with a margin of 5-2 courtesy of his superb ankle holds against the Tajikistan wrestler.

The 28-year-old's next match was against India's U20 World Championships bronze medalist Sujeet Sujeet. Sujeet posed a tough challenge to the Wisconsin native leading 2-0 at one point in the match. However, Retherford came back dominantly from behind to earn a 2-2 criteria lead and win his third consecutive match.

Retherford's fourth and most important victory came against Niurgan Skriabin which cemented his place in the Paris Olympics.