The Istanbul mats just saw Spencer Lee spew fire! Battling through injuries, the fierce Iowa Hawkeyes wrestler punched his Paris Olympics ticket. In his penultimate semifinal match, Spencer sealed a 10-0 technical fall against Rakhat Kalzhan, 2x Asian Championship medalist. Now, in the Parisian arena, the Colorado native might find his next opponent in an Olympic medalist from Japan. 

Spencer Lee’s entry in the 57-kg Paris Olympics berth can land him in front of Rei Higuchi, the Japanese wrestler from the same category. A wrestling fan on X had recently wished to see this phenomenal fight on a platform like the Paris Olympics. Both Lee and Higuchi responded heartily to the post. “See you in Paris,” Higuchi wrote. To which Lee replied back, “See you in Paris, Champ!” Not only that, the Japanese star went one step ahead after watching the American wrestler earn his maiden Olympic berth, decimating a challenger like Rakhat Kalzhan. 

Showering his praise on Spencer In the same X-post, Higuchi, the Rio Olympics silver medalist, wrote, “Great game, exciting!” The 28-year-old freestyler had earned his Paris Olympics ticket through the second-place finish at the wrestling world championships last year. It was his back-to-back podium finish in the wrestling Worlds. In 2022, Higuchi had earned the gold in the 61 kg bracket. In the same year, he had another gold medal from the Senior Asian Championships in the 61 kg bracket. But, now Rei Higuchi is in front of an upheaval task. 

In the past, Spencer Lee and Rei Higuchi have not faced each other. Rather, after failing to cut into the 57 kg bracket in the Tokyo Olympics, Higuchi rarely participated in the Olympic weight category. With that, he had also faced issues in managing the weight bracket, as in the post-Tokyo Olympics tenure, the 61 kg category remained his first option. So, now, the Olympian would have to face double whammies of Spencer Lee and issues with weight class. Does he have any solution to counter those? 

Spencer Lee to face a formidably gritty opponent in the coming days 

In his 2023 world wrestling championship endeavor, Rei Higuchi countered Stevan Micic from Serbia. The match was evenly poised despite the final scoreline of 7-4, siding with Micic. Micic used to have a similar wrestling upbringing as Spencer Lee before the former changed his nationality to Serbia. In Stars and Stripes, Micic also possesses a junior Worlds’ medal, furthering the similarity with Spencer. But to everyone’s disbelief, Micic’s opponent, Higuchi, stated something distinct after his hard-fought match against Micic. 

It was the Japanese wrestler’s elite return in the 57kg bracket and he pointed toward his lack of “technique or mentality” being the reason for his failure. But according to him, “It’s a good defeat”. The latter part of that conversation may draw attention from Spencer Lee. Displaying his desperation to improve his Olympic medal’s color, Rei Higuchi said, “I’m hoping to come up with a performance twice as strong.”  So what is his strategy for that?

“I don’t look back at my matches. I want to move on. Next match… I don’t feel bad about missing the Tokyo Olympics. The day I lost the chance to represent at the Tokyo Games, I began preparing for Paris,” Higuchi had said in an interview last year. Is Spencer Lee noting that?