Kayla Miracle's 62Kg Freestyle Bracket at Paris Olympics 2024: Exploring NCAA Champion's road to gold in the quadrennial event

By Agnijeeta Majumder

Modified Aug 08, 2024 15:48 GMT

Kayla Miracle, an American wrestler competing in the 62 kg category, is one of the prominent names representing Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. With two World silver medals and a Tokyo Olympic qualification in her repertoire, Miracle will first enter the wrestling ring on August 9, against Turkish wrestler Nesrin Bas, en route to the coveted Olympic gold podium.

Kayla Miracle is pursuing a Sports Management major at Campbellsville University, Kentucky, and currently trains at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club in Iowa City, Iowa. Her list of achievements includes two Pan American Games and six Pan American Championship podiums. In 2024, she earned the Pan American Wrestling Championships title against Canadian Ana Godinez.

She then competed at the Pan American Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament and earned a Paris Olympic quota. On August 9, Miracle will face Turkish wrestler Nesrin Bas. On winning the feat, her probable competitor in the quarterfinal match-up will be either Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan or Esther Kolwale of Nigeria.

If she successfully outperforms the aforementioned athletes, her semifinal rival will be any of the four: Bilyana Dudova of Bulgaria, Johanna Lindborg of Sweden, Pürevdorjiin Orkhon of Mongolia and Iryna Volodymyrivna Koliadenko of Ukraine. In the final match-up, she will go against any of the following wrestlers:

Grace Bullen of Norway

Siwar Bousetta of Tunisia

Hanbit Lee of Korea

Luisa Neimesch of Germany

Ana Godinez of Canada

Ameline Douarre of France

Kriszta Tunde Incze of Romania

Sakura Motoki of Japan

Kayla Miracle, the fourth wrestler to earn four Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association national titles, will fight in Round 16 on August 9 at 11:00 am E .T, followed by the quarterfinals. The semifinal match is scheduled on the same day at 18:15 am E. T, the Repechage match is on August 10 at 11 am E. T and finals at 21:15 E .T.

Kayla Miracle is the first LGBTQ out athlete to compete on the Olympic stage

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Miracle was out of 186 'out' athletes competing as a representative of Team LGBTQ. She took pride in being part of an inclusive community in the wrestling world.

“With wrestling, we always try to say, ‘any body can wrestle. Shape, size, gender, religion, orientation. They try to be very inclusive. I’m proud to be part of a community that is really trying to push for that," she told Outsports.

The 28-year-old has also amassed three Final X championship titles, two Junior World Championship bronze medals, and four US Open championship wins across her career.