Grace Bullen won gold in wrestling during Euro games

Grace BullenGrace Bullen.Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

Gold medal in wrestling

Grace Bullen got the gold medal in the wrestling EC when she beat Mariana Cherdivara-Esanu from Moldova in the finals on Friday.

 

 

– I’m incredibly pleased. I really appreciate that all the training I had helped me to achieve this result said Bullen to VG.

 – This was incredibly big. Now she has shown she is the best. She previously beat the ruling world champion and European champion.

 In the final, she beat the one that she lost in the Olympic qualification, said sports director Anders Hestdalen in the Norwegian Confederation to NTB.

 Bullen got the first point of a passivity warning to the opponent. The opponent answered two points on a armchair.

 Such a throw is usually worth four points, but the Norwegian girl managed to land on her stomach so that it only became two points.

 Then it was the Norwegian wrestlers’ turn to get a warning against her, and it looked ugly in terms of Norwegian victory.

 Bullen, however, struck back and received managed to get back to 3-3. The gold was therefore hers as she scored the last points.

 Margins

– There are small margins that decide those matches at the very top, said Hestdalen.

Bullen, who competes in the 58-kilo class, won 10-9 against Emese Barka from Hungary in the semifinal. Cherdivara-Esanu beat German Laura Mertens 4-2.

 In the semifinal, Bullen went out hard and went out of time for the last minute of the match. In the final, however, she had a slightly different tactic.

– Trainer Lotta Andersson put a little better tactics in the finals, and she succeeded, says the sports manager.

The 20 years old from Fredrikstad does however not get rich because she has won gold in the European  championships.

– There will be a pat on my shoulder and congratulations, says Bullen.

 Revenge

Earlier on Friday Bullen beat Natalja Sinisjin from Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals. She also beat Katarzyna Madrowska from Poland in qualifying.

It was Bullen’s third EM medal at senior level. Last year she lost the final against Sinisjin, and in 2015 she claimed the bronze.

It was the first Norwegian gold medal in wrestling for five years. That time, Maja Erlandsen went to the top of the European Championship.

Signe Marie Fidje Store participated in the 69-kilo class on Friday. She was knocked out in the quarterfinals and lost her subsequent fight to remain in the competition.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today