Burroughs beats Russian to reach Olympic gold medal match

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Updated: August 10, 2012

LONDON, England — Before Jordan Burroughs arrived in London, he had just one goal: an Olympic championship.
And the 2011 World champion — whose Twitter account is #alliseeisgold — move one step closer to that moment when he defeated Russia’s former World champion Denis Tsargush, 3-1, 0-2, 2-1, in the semifinals of the 163-pound weight class in the ExCel Center.
The win sends Burroughs to the finals for a rematch of the 2011 Worlds with Iran’s Sadegh Goudarzi at approximately 1:50 CST.

CLICK TO HEAR COACH MARK MANNING ON JORDAN BURROUGHS’ WIN OVER THE RUSSIAN
Tsargush struck first with a takedown off an inside single 27 seconds into the match. Burroughs responded later in the period finishing a single-leg takedown and then transitioning right into an ankle lace for a second point to take the 2-1 lead. In the scramble that ensued after those points, the former Hodge Trophy winner got a third point off a push-out and won the period 3-1.
Tsargush won the second period off a single-leg takedown 46 seconds into the period and a push-out with nine seconds to go, 2-0.
With both wrestlers more tentative in the third, Burroughs hit perhaps the most important double-leg takedown of his career with 31 seconds left as the Russian looked like he was wanting to go the ball draw.
Then Tsargush nearly baited Burroughs into a push-out right on the edge after the takedown was awarded. But Burroughs quickly circled back towards the middle and got a push-out of his own with 13 seconds to go. Trailing 2-0, Tsargush got a push-out with four seconds to go but it was too little, too late.
Burroughs opened his Olympics with a 4-0, 6-0 domination of Francisco Soler of Puerto Rico.
Burroughs opened in style with his normal wide-open offense from his feet. He racked up three takedowns in the first against Soler, and got a pushout for the final point.
In the second period, Burroughs showed his skills against Soler in a big way. He rattled off four takedowns and gutted Soler for two at the 1:08 mark. The last ankle pick to end the 6-0 second-period win came at the 1:27 mark.
Next up for Burroughs was Canada’s Matt Gentry, who also has U.S. citizenship and was a 2004 Stanford national champ.
Burroughs prevailed in that quarterfinal, 2-1, 1-1.
Burroughs got two takedowns in the first, one just before the midway point off a beautiful double, the other just after the one-minute mark. Gentry scored on a snap-down on the defensive Burroughs at 1:57, but Burroughs won 2-1.
The former Stanford national champ scored first in the second period with a takedown 31 seconds into the match after a wild scramble on the edge. At 1:33, Burroughs got his first points of the period on a takedown after he was able to lock up an inside cradle. Gentry was in on high crotch just as time expired. He didn’t get the takedown, sending Burroughs to the semis.

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