A sort ofWhen Aline Rotter-Focken felt her arms tear her apart, her body tightened. She immediately pressed her hands and feet to the floor. She squeezed her eyes out of her sockets. She can squeeze almost anything she can squeeze. But the arm kept tearing her apart. Sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. It lasted for five, six, and seven seconds. Maybe more.
At such moments, seconds must really feel like hours. When she is now pressing on the floor and defending against Adeline Gray, the woman holding her, using everything she has, with her hands, with her feet, and even with her eyes, she chooses more I took Aline Rotter-Focken instead of wrestling on the mat. When she is no longer fooled, she will not only win the last battle of her life, but also the greatest battle of her life.
a few minutes ago. This is Monday night, Makuhari Messe Hall A, wrestling, women’s 76 kg, Olympic final. On the mat, dressed in a red suit is Adeline Gray from the United States, 30 years old, five-time world champion, ranked first in seed. Then there is Aline Rotter-Focken from Germany, also 30 years old, but only one world champion, ranking second on the seed list. The numbers say: The outsider is here. But she doesn’t look like a person in a blue suit. She walked by the helper in the hall, and the helper should take her to the way of the mat. Why wait, she knows where she is going. She applauded with her coach Patrick Loës. They have been cooperating for ten years. Applause again, cheer again. Later, Loës will describe how he simply thought of the finale in the hotel room-and then quickly returned to the big goal: “We want gold here. We don’t want silver.”
“I can’t let it take it away from me”
On the mat, Aline Rotter-Focken quickly looked like gold, not silver. The referee gave her a point because Gray was too passive in wrestling. 1-0. Then she parried Gray’s attack and pushed her to the ground. “If she jumped up, she should use this to fight back, that’s how it happened,” Loës said. 3-0. Then she even knocked Gray down. 7-0. It was only launched once. 7:1. But then grab your arm.
Five, six, and seven seconds. She wrestled with Gray, wrestled with her body. Just don’t lose control. Not her. She can break free. The score is 7:3, but the situation may be worse. “After I opened the floor, I knew: I can’t let it take it away from me.”
A few minutes later. Aline Rotter-Focken was standing in the interview area, with a German flag on his shoulder and a gold medal on his neck. She said the words about the ground position, but in fact she can’t remember the battle, the last battle of her career. At the end of the long six minutes, she fell to her knees and began to cry. They are tears of happiness, tears of liberation. This is not always the case. “There were many moments when I doubted it, cried a lot, suffered a lot, and plowed a lot,” she said. “It’s just proof that hard work pays off, and sometimes everything comes together at the right moment.”
