The men's wrestling came to an emphatic end on Sunday 21 August, as world no.2 and 2014 world champion Soslan Ramonov of Russia demolished London 2012 champion Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan 11-0 in the 65kg freestyle gold medal match. 

Ramonov said the fight was far from easy. "Maybe it looked that way, but in fact I had a hard preparation. I think I can do all this with my eyes closed – I am not thinking, the hands do everything automatically. We've practised everything in and out and therefore it might look easy."

Ramonov admitted that having to wait until the last day of the Games for his bout was difficult. "It was very hard. We came here early and when you sit in the lobby and the other guys come home with medals, you think, 'when does my time come, finally'. On the one hand there was pressure, on the other hand it maybe even helped."

Ramonov (blue) and Asgarov compete in the freestyle 65kg final (Photo: Getty Images/Laurence Griffiths)

After having been defeated by London 2012 champion Asgarov in the semi-final, world champion Frank Chamizo Marquez of Italy won the bronze medal match, claiming the first medal for Italy in freestyle wrestling since Moscow 1980.

Losing streak

There was drama in the other bronze medal bout as Mongolian Mandakhnaran Ganzorig levelled the scores with just 18 seconds left in his contest with Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan, but was then penalised for avoiding his rival, and the victory went to Navruzov.

Ganzorig's two coaches protested in front of the jury, removing most of their clothes and occupying the mat. The jury did not revise the final score and the coaches were carried away from the field of play by security guards after 10 minutes.

Debut glory for Snyder  

Once calm was restored, the action continued with the men's freestyle 97kg. At his first Olympic Games, 20-year-old world champion Kyle Snyder of the USA defeated 33-year-old three-time Olympian Khetag Goziumov of Azerbaijan to claim gold.

Snyder celebrates defeating Goziumov to take gold (Photo: Getty Images/Laurence Griffiths)

Snyder jumped in the crowd to celebrate. "I couldn't even hear people, and I'm a little claustrophobic," said Snyder. "I was like, 'Dang, I got to get out of here.' I don't like being around that many people, but if it's my family, I can deal with it."

"I've been super emotional at times on the mat when I'm wrestling. Maybe I was in shock, I don't know. I was definitely really happy, happier than I've ever been on a wrestling mat."

Snyder said preparations for the Games went well. "Everything has gone by so fast. I've been looking forward to something, and then before I know it, it's here and I've competed. I had a calender on my phone telling me how many days until the Olympics, a countdown. It was like 400 days, and now I've already wrestled. It's crazy.

"Wrestling can be really exciting if people are offensive and as long as people keep trying to score, and I saw a lot of guys doing that."

(L-R): Goziumov, Snyder, Saritov and Ibragimov (Photo: Getty Images/Laurence Griffiths)

The 2010 world champion Goziumov did improve on the bronze medals he won at London 2012 and Beijing 2008 but he was not able to secure the gold Azerbaijani wrestlers have missed out on at Rio 2016, despite three silver and six bronze medals.

Albert Saritov won the 97kg bronze medal match, which was Romania's first medal in wrestling since Barcelona 1992. He was joined by Magomed Ibragimov of Uzbekistan, who also claimed bronze.