Defeated by bronze medalist
A RECENT graduate of the University of Guam’s Fine Arts program, Maria McQueen Dunn saw her 2012 London Olympic dream come to an end. The beautiful and cagey wrestler took on Russia’s seasoned veteran Lubov Volosova in freestyle wrestling (63kg weight class).
Scheduled for three rounds, Volosova wasted no time, pinning the less experienced Dunn 1:09 in the first round, recording a 5-0 win over the Guamanian.
With little international experience under her belt, Dunn’s battle, from the opening whistle, was uphill. Volosova’s wrestling accomplishments, according to www.london2012.com, list her as, to name a few, the 2010 63kg freestyle champion at the European Championships and the third-place finisher at the 2012 World Cup.
Volosova went on to capture the bronze medal, tying Mongolia’s Battsetseg Soronzonbold (both Volosova and Soronzonbold received bronze). Japan’s Kaori Icho captured the gold and China’s Ruixue Jing earned the silver.
Dunn finished the 2012 London Olympics ranked 18 out of 20, finishing two places higher than Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu and the Central Africa Republic’s Sylvie Datty-Ngonga Tara-Agoue.
