Missouri wrestling’s J’den Cox took the world by storm when he won a spot on the 2016 U.S Olympic Team in April. He didn’t stop there, traveling around the world and taking on the world’s best in tournaments to prepare for the Rio Olympics.

Now, after a fast Saturday of wrestling in Rio, the senior will return to school Monday with an Olympic bronze medal.

On Saturday, Cox’s first match was against Amarhajy Mahamedau of Belarus. Cox started off the day strong with a 7-1 victory, earning the Columbia native a place in the quarterfinals. He continued to wrestle well against Iran’s Alireza Karimi, winning 5-1. All throughout, Cox showed his usual style of wrestling: staying busy and on the attack.

With two strong wins behind him, Cox found himself one win away from the gold medal match. However, he fell 2-1 to Selim Yasar of Turkey. Cox and Yasar were tied after the six-minute match was over, but Yasar won because Cox was issued a caution in the first period of the match.

“I thought I was winning …” Cox told the Kansas City Star. “I didn’t know until afterwards that I was even down. I’m not placing any blame anywhere. There’s nowhere to put blame. If I score more points, I win the match.”

In the bronze medal match, Cox faced Cuba’s Reineris Salas Perez, a match that ended with Cox becoming Team USA Wrestling’s second medal winner, earning the bronze. The match was scoreless until Cox took the lead on a shot clock point.

With one minute left in the match, Cox went for a shot in what appeared to be a takedown, even though the referee never called it. Instead, the referee called a stalemate and awarded a point to Perez. USA challenged the call, and after a lengthy review process, Cox was awarded the two takedown points, making the score 3-1.

Cox was ready to finish the match, but Perez refused to step back onto the mat. He was disqualified, and Cox took home the bronze medal, becoming the ninth Missouri athlete in history to medal at the Olympics.

_Edited by Alec Lewis | alewis@themaneater.com_