Spencer Lee, an Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling legend, is going for the gold medal on Friday, Aug. 9, in the 57 kg men’s freestyle.
Lee will battle Japan’s Rei Higuchi in the finals for the gold medal. Higuchi is a 2022 World champion and 2023 World bronze medalist who won a silver medal in the 2016 Olympic Games.
Lee rolled into the gold-medal finals with a 14-4 technical fall victory over No. 7 seed Gulomjon Abduallaev of Uzbekistan. A pair of takedowns followed by two turns gave Lee a huge early lead at 8-0 over Abduallaev.
Lee didn’t look back from there, securing the technical fall with one final takedown to secure the final 14-4 margin.
Lee won his first two matches on Thursday morning, stopping Wanhao Zou of China, 3-2, then getting a 12-2 technical fall over Bekzat Almaz Uulu of Kyrgyzstan.
During his decorated career with the Hawkeyes, Lee was a three-time NCAA champion.
Now, Lee has the chance to join another illustrious list of Hawkeye greats. The Murrysville, Pa., native is already set to become the 11th Hawkeye wrestler to win an Olympic medal.
But, with a gold-medal victory over Higuchi on Friday, Lee would become just the sixth Hawkeye ever to win Olympic gold in wrestling. Lee would join Ed and Lou Banach, Tom Brands, Randy Lewis and Terry McCann upon that mountaintop.
Lee would be the first to do so since 1996 when Brands won gold.
As Lee gears up for the gold-medal match versus Japan’s Higuchi, here’s a look at his best photos in the Paris Games.