Women's Wrestling Competition at Buenos Aires 2018

Summer Youth Olympics 2018 

Wrestling Competition at  Buenos Aires 2018

BUENOS AIRES - Wrestler Linda Machuca left Buenos Aires 2018 with some lingering anger after she could not take home the gold medal in the 73kg category. The Argentine dreamed of "representing Argentina, winning the gold and celebrating with the flag.” But she had Cuban Milaimys Marin Potrille as an obstacle.

Machuca advanced to the final with a great performance in Group A. Her four consecutive victories gave her high hopes: 8-1 against Turkey’s Vahide Nur Gok, 8-6 against Belarusian Kseniya Dzibuk, 10-9 against Uzbekistan’s Svetlana Oknazarova and a 5-2 against Tunisia’s Khadija Jlassi.

After Machuca made it through to the final, her parents gave her hugs to celebrate the achievement and give her some extra motivation.

"I had to overcome many personal and sporting obstacles. I trained hard, being far away from my family, but I gave by best and fulfilled my objective,” she said.

Eric Leon, the coach of the young wrestler born in the town of Jose C. Paz, in Buenos Aires province, was also very excited and recalled all their hard work together.

"The results do not come from a magician's hat. They come from the support of a whole team, effort, dedication and intelligence,” Leon said.

But Cuba's Marin Potrille did not give away any chances in the last fight. The Group B winner and Pan American champion came out in full force and managed to bring down the Argentine to claim the Olympic gold for herself. As the Argentinian flags were still waving in the stands, she grabbed the Cuban flag and celebrated her new title.

"I felt a bit angry because I wanted the gold, but I'm happy," said a tearful Machuca after their battle. "I dedicate this to my family. To all those who supported me since I started. The nicest thing was to see my siblings, my mom and my dad. This means that I have to continue striving to get to gold."