Canada’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez needs to topple a more experienced wrestler to go home with an Olympic bronze medal.
Godinez Gonzalez, from Burnaby, B.C. will fight for bronze Saturday in the women’s 62-kg division after beating Kriszta Incze of Romania 2-0 in a repechage at Paris 2024.
The 24-year-old Godinez Gonzalez, whose family moved to B.C. from Mexico when she was seven, will battle Grace Bullen of Norway for bronze.
Bullen, 27, will be favoured after winning bronze and silver at the 2023 and ’22 world championships in 62-kg and 59-kg divisions, respectively.
Godinez Gonzalez has a career-best finish of fifth at the 2022 worlds.
The Canadian didn’t start wrestling until she was 16, originally getting involved to help improve her tackling technique for rugby.
Godinez Gonzalez opened the Olympics with a 5-2 win over France’s Ameline Douarre before losing 11-0 to Sakura Motoki of Japan. The Japanese wrestler advanced to the final, opening up a repechage spot for the Canadian.
