American gets first gold in wrestling

Cael Sanderson won the 185-pound freestyle division crown.
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
ATHENS -- The gold hung near his sternum, tugging at his thick neck. The olive wreath they had awarded Cael Sanderson was too small for his head. This medal, though, it seemed to fit perfectly.
"I see the medal," said Sanderson, but, "it's hard to believe it's over and things turned out the way they did."
Hard for Sanderson to believe -- not for others.
Beat South Korean
Sanderson, 25, cemented his place as one of the best American wrestlers ever Saturday night, coming from behind to win an Olympic gold. Sanderson defeated South Korea's Moon Eui-jae in the 185-pound freestyle wrestling division.
"This whole thing is unreal," Sanderson said following his 3-1 win. "Every moment, it's hard to believe I'm actually here."
Sanderson was a favorite for gold. Heading into today's final set of matches, he is the only American wrestler to win gold in Athens.
Two other Americans -- Stephen Abas (121 pounds) and Jamill Kelly (145 pounds) lost in their gold-medal matches Saturday night. Americans Joe Williams and Daniel Cormier still have a shot in the final day of action.
With the retirement of Rulon Gardner, wrestling is looking for a new face. Sanderson has the credentials but said he isn't sure whether he'll continue to compete.
"Seeing him win the gold is excellent for the sport of wrestling, excellent for USA wrestling," said Kelly, his teammate.
Never lost in college
Despite Sanderson's reserved and shy demeanor, he was already one of the country's most accomplished wrestlers. He won four high school titles. Then four college titles. In fact, he finished his career at Iowa State with a 159-0 record, an NCAA record.
The path to the gold-medal match wasn't easy and Sanderson had some help along the way. Earlier in the day, Sanderson defeated Cuba's Yoel Romero, a wrestler he had never beaten. That set the stage for final match between Sanderson and Russia's Sazhid Sazhidov, who beat Sanderson for last year's world championship. But Moon, a silver-medalist at the 2000 Games, upset Sazhidov in the semis.
Moon scores early
Against Sanderson, Moon scored the first point on an escape.
"I knew I had to get something going or it was going to slip away," Sanderson said.
Sanderson attacked Moon's legs for an apparent takedown. No points were immediately rewarded, but officials reviewed videotape and gave Sanderson two points for back exposure.
In the final minute, Sanderson scored his final point with a single-leg takedown.
"I didn't wrestle perfect," Sanderson said. "I made mistakes and gave up some points."
No celebration
Following his win, Sanderson was relatively subdued. He didn't parade around the arena waving a flag like so many Olympic champions.
"I didn't plan a celebration," he said. "I'm not good with props. I just wanted to get out of there before I made a fool out of myself."
Sanderson was the only one of Saturday's finalists who was expected to reach the gold-medal match. Earlier, Abas, a three-time NCAA champ, lost 3-1 to Ukraine's Mavlet Bartirov.
And Kelly lost to 5-1 to Elbrus Tedeyev of Ukraine.