American Burroughs wins freestyle gold

London, England – Jordan Ernest Burroughs claimed the United States' first gold medal in wresting at the London Olympics, winning the final of the men's 74-kilogram freestyle tournament on Friday.

Burroughs defeated Iran's Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi in a decision by points, earning the 24-year-old a gold in his Olympic debut. Burroughs had won the 2011 world championship.

"It feels awesome. I've prepared all my life for this, and it was well executed. I've been working hard and I've had big matches in my career, but this is the best. It's unreal and it's a dream. I expected to win and I always knew I would. He's my arch nemesis and I'm sure we'll have a lot of battles in the future," said Burroughs, who earned the United States' first medal in this event since 2000.

Goudarzi added an Olympic silver to his two second-place finishes in world championships.

Bronze medals went to Russia's Denis Tsargush, a two-time world champion who lost to Burroughs at last year's worlds, and Uzbekistan's Soslan Tigiev, a 2008 Beijing Games silver medalist.

Also decided on Friday was the men's 55kg freestyle, with the gold going to Russian Dzhamal Otarsultanov, a three-time European champion. He bested Georgia's Vladimer Khinchegashvili.

"It was tough, it was difficult but it all depends on your attitude in the end and mine was really positive. I wanted to win so much. The gold medal is really important to me," noted Otarsultanov.

Japan's Shinichi Yumoto and North Korea's Yang Kyong Il won bronze medals.