An Olympic bronze medal is coming to Livingston County.
Brighton’s Myles Amine, who is wrestling for San Marino, won a bronze medal match in the men’s freestyle 86-kilogram competition Thursday morning, Michigan time, in Japan.
Amine got a takedown with 10 seconds left and was awarded an extra point for an unsuccessful challenge to beat India’s Deepak Punia, 4-2. Amine trailed 2-0 before getting a point late in the first of two periods for a step-out.
Punia won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships.
It’s only the third Olympic medal for San Marino, all won this year. The small nation contained entirely within the borders of Italy began competing at the Olympics in 1960. Trap shooter Alessandra Perilli, won two medals in Tokyo.
Amine, who was born in Dearborn, has dual citizenship because his mother’s grandfather came to the United States from San Marino in the early 1900s. He attended Detroit Catholic Central in high school.
Two bronze medals are awarded in Olympic wrestling. Artur Naifonov of Russia won the other bronze with a 2-0 decision over Javrail Shapiev of Uzbekistan.
Amine qualified for the bronze medal match with a 2-0 victory over Ali Shabanau of Belarus Wednesday night Michigan time. Shabanau is a four-time world bronze medalist. Amine was 1-1 against him, winning the previous meeting 5-1 in the first round of the 2019 World Championships.
After a 12-2 loss to David Taylor of the United States in the quarterfinals, Amine was able to wrestle back for the bronze because Taylor reached the championship match. Taylor went on to win the gold medal.
Before losing to Taylor, Amine opened the Olympics with a 12-2 victory over Carlos Arturo Izquierdo Mendez of Colombia.
Amine is the first University of Michigan wrestler to win an Olympic medal in freestyle wrestling. He was a three-time All-American for the Wolverines.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com.Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
