American Coleman Scott won an Olympic bronze medal on Saturday night. John Sachs photo.

LONDON – A session that started with three medal hopes for the U.S. ended with one.

American Coleman Scott delivered late in his match to capture an Olympic bronze medal in freestyle wrestling before a sellout crowd of 6,500 fans on Saturday night at ExCeL North Arena 2.

Scott rallied to knock off 2011 World bronze medalist and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Kenichi Yumoto of Japan 0-1, 3-0, 3-1 in the Olympic bronze-medal match at 60 kg/132 lbs.

Down 1-0 late in the match, Scott drove in on a shot attempt and finished for a clutch takedown en route to winning a medal in his first Olympic appearance.

“It wasn’t what I came here for,” Scott said. “I wanted to win a gold medal, but I made sure I wasn’t leaving here with nothing. I was disappointed in my semifinal loss, but I had to come back and win a medal. It feels good to go out with a win.”

Scott earned $25,000 for his bronze-medal win from the Living the Dream Medal Fund, which is funded mainly by the wrestling community.

Scott, 26, a past NCAA champion for Oklahoma State, beat Yumoto in the World Cup this year. Scott said he had 95 family and friends here from the state of Oklahoma and his native Pennsylvania.

Scott bounced back after a tough semifinal loss to Azerbaijan’s Toghrul Asgarov, the eventual champion.

“It came down to clean shots and clean finishes, and hard, aggressive wrestling,” U.S. Olympic Coach John Smith said. “It was an uphill battle for him just to make the team. I’m excited for him.”

American Tervel Dlagnev dropped his bronze-medal match at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. on Saturday night. Dlagnev, 26, a two-time NCAA Division II champion for Nebraska-Kearney, fell to past Junior World bronze medalist Komeil Ghasemi of Iran in the bronze match.

Ghasemi won 4-0, 0-1, 1-0.

"Tervel kept getting to the guy's legs, but he couldn't finish," U.S. Coach Zeke Jones said. "I'm sure Tervel is disappointed. He was planning on winning a gold medal today."

Ghasemi scored on a pushout with nine seconds left in the match to prevail over Dlagnev.

“I didn’t perform very well,” Dlagnev said. “It’s awful. I didn’t finish shots. I didn’t wrestle well.”

Dlagnev beat World champion Alexei Shemarov of Belarus in the quarterfinals before falling to two-time Olympic champ Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan in the semifinals. Taymazov won his third straight Olympic title, tying a record for most Olympic gold medals in men's freestyle.

American Jake Herbert finished one win short of the bronze-medal match after falling in his first repechage bout at 84 kg/185 lbs. Turkey’s Ibrahim Bolukasi downed Herbert 1-0, 1-4, 5-4. 

Herbert turned Bolukasi in the third period and was holding him on his back for points for about 30 seconds, but then Bolukasi was inexplicably awarded three points in the exchange.

Herbert, a 2009 World silver medalist, was competing in his first Olympics. He earlier lost a controversial, and bizarre, match to returning World champion Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals where he had points taken away.

“I’m very disappointed,” Herbert said of the bronze match. “You turn a guy and hold him on his back and they give him three points for it. That’s tough for anybody to come back from. They just gave it to him. The guy put two hands on my head which is illegal, and they end up giving him three points. It stinks. The same thing happened to me in the quarters. I don’t understand it.”

Puerto Rico’s Jaime Espinal, who trains at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club in State College, Pa., finished with a silver medal after falling to Sharifov in the finals at 84 kg/185 lbs.

Penn State assistant coach Cody Sanderson was in Espinal’s corner for this event.

Puerto Rico’s Franklin Gomez, a past NCAA champion for Michigan State, lost his first repechage match and fell short of a medal at 60 kg/132 lbs. Gomez was a silver medalist in the 2011 Worlds.

The finale of the eight-day Olympic wrestling tournament is scheduled for Sunday at the ExCeL Center. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. Eastern Time) in London. Fans can watch a live webcast of the event on nbcolympics.com.

American freestyle wrestlers Jared Frayer (Norman, Okla./Gator WC) and Jake Varner (State College, Pa./Nittany Lion WC) are scheduled to compete on Sunday. Frayer wrestles at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. Varner competes at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Frayer and Varner are competing in their first Olympic Games. Varner won a World bronze medal last year.

OLYMPIC GAMES
ExCeL Center, London, England

Saturday’s medal winners

Men’s freestyle

60 kg/132 lbs.
Gold – Toghrul Asgarov (Azerbaijan)
Silver – Besik Kudukhov (Russia)
Bronze – Coleman Scott (USA)
Bronze – Yogeshwar Dutt (India)

84 kg/185 lbs.
Gold – Sharif Sharifov (Azerbaijan)
Silver – Jaime Espinal (Puerto Rico)
Bronze – Dato Marsagishvili (Georgia)
Bronze – Ehsan Lashgari (Iran)

120 kg/264.5 lbs.
Gold – Artur Taymazov (Uzbekistan)
Silver – David Madzmanashvili (Georgia)
Bronze – Komeil Ghasemi (Iran)
Bronze – Beylal Makhov (Russia)

Finals matchups

60 kg/132 lbs.
Toghrul Asgarov (Azerbaijan) dec. Besik Kudukhov (Russia), 1-0, 5-0

84 kg/185 lbs.
Sharif Sharifov (Azerbaijan) dec. Jaime Espinal (Puerto Rico), 6-1, 2-0

120 kg/264.5 lbs.
Artur Taymazov (Uzbekistan) dec. David Madzmanashvili (Georgia), 1-0, 1-0

U.S. results

60 kg/132 lbs. – Coleman Scott, Stillwater, Okla. (Gator WC) – BRONZE MEDALIST
WIN Seung-Chul Lee (Korea), 3-0, 3-0
WIN Malkhaz Zarkua (Georgia), 1-0, fall 1:29
LOSS Toghrul Asgarov (Azerbaijan), 0-1, 0-4
WIN Kenichi Yumoto (Japan), 0-1, 3-0, 3-1

84 kg/185 lbs. – Jake Herbert, Ann Arbor, Mich. (New York AC) - 7th
WIN Humberto Arencibia (Cuba), 1-4, 8-0, 1-1
LOSS Sharif Sharifov (Azerbaijan), 1-4, 0-6
LOSS Ibrahim Bolukasi (Turkey), 0-1, 4-1, 4-5

120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Tervel Dlagnev, Columbus, Ohio (Sunkist Kids) – 5th
WIN Eldesoky Shaban (Egypt), 6-2, 1-0
WIN Alexei Shemarov (Belarus), 2-0, 3-1
LOSS Artur Taymazov (Uzbekistan), fall 1:50
LOSS Komeil Ghasemi (Iran), 0-4, 1-0, 0-1