“Wasn’t Enough”: 6X World Wrestling Champ Adeline Gray Crushed as Paris Olympics 2024 Dreams Shattered

With the Paris Olympics 2024 in sight, athletes are on top of their games. Let’s take a look inside the wrestling ring, which Adeline Gray dominates. Two-time Olympian with 6 World Championship golds under her bag, Gray has been an indomitable force at the Tokyo Olympics. She clinched the silver medal to make her podium debut. Paris 2024 would have been her third Olympic stint.

At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials that took place at State College, Pennsylvania on April 19-20 Adeline Gary faced a blow from her younger counterpart, Kennedy Blades. The next-generation wrestler won by securing 11-6 and 8-3, leaving the Olympian behind. But the latter doesn’t have any hard feelings. She instead resorted to her social media to explain her side of the story.

Wrestling champ Adeline Gray doesn’t shy away from accepting defeat

Resorting to her Instagram, the 33-year-old posted, “For my next move I’m planning a vacation. This past weekend I stepped on the mat with a lofty goal of making a 3rd Olympic Team. I did everything reasonable to be ready and it wasn’t enough for this team”. She had regret in her tone initially, which quickly transitioned to gratitude.

Reaching out to the sporting world, she said, “Thank you sports community for reaching out and being appreciative of my efforts. It helps make all the sacrifices worth it”. Despite losing out on her Olympic opportunity, Gray still wishes that her weight category women make a mark in the French capital.

Her athletic qualities also came to the fore when she kept her competitor Kennedy Blades above her on the list. Acknowledging her strong traits, Adeline Gray believes that Blades has the capability of taking the nation to greater heights. But what about the resume she’s been building on for years? Let’s take a look at that.

Gray’s storied wrestling career

The Colorado native started off her career with the 2011 World Wrestling Championships Istanbul where she won bronze after going on and off with her competitors. Since then, she has been on a World Championship winning streak, which continued till 2021 with only 2016 and 2017 missing in between. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she lost the quarterfinal match, an inch away from the final gold.

2017 was plagued by injuries but she made up for the losses at the 2018 World Championships. After that, she made it to the pole podium in 2019 and 2021 as well. In 2024, she started her season by winning the bronze at the Pan American Championships. The only woman wrestler to have earned the signature shoe, the trailblazer wrestles to combat the issues of sexism.