Kiszla: After finishing second at Olympics, Adeline Gray wrestles with raw, conflicting emotions. She’s profoundly proud. And intensely ticked off.

MAKUHARI, Japan — Silver is the heaviest metallic astatine the Olympic Games.

A metallic medal is worn with the grin of a occupation good done, but besides carries the value of what mightiness person been.

“Isn’t it pretty?” said wrestler Adeline Gray, a metallic medal dangling from her neck. “It’s truly dense … I enactment it connected and thought, ‘I don’t deliberation I tin deterioration this each day.'”

Yes, metallic shines. It ain’t gold, though.

We each cognize there’s perfectly nary shame successful 2nd spot astatine the Olympics. But aft Germany’s Aline Rotter-Focken routed Gray 7-3 Monday to assertion the freestyle title astatine 76 kilograms, a wrestler raised successful Denver looked her hard truths dormant successful the eye.

“A metallic medal is not what I came for. But it’s what I have,” Gray said. “I’m precise arrogant to bring location a medal from the Olympics for Team USA. I wanted it to beryllium a antithetic color.”

America has gone soft, gotten a small emotionally flabby connected a dependable fare of don’t worry, beryllium happy. That’s wherefore I’m present to springiness Gray a lasting ovation.

After falling conscionable abbreviated of achieving a imagination chased the bulk of her 30 years connected earth, present was a rival unafraid to grapple with earthy and conflicting emotions, with the blunt honesty to admit she was some arrogant and ticked astatine the aforesaid time.

How she reacted to decision successful the biggest lucifer of her beingness was a measurement of the spot successful her soul, large and bold capable to beryllium susceptible of feeling some delight and disappointment successful the aforesaid heartbeat. It’s the aforesaid spot that allowed Gray to combat backmost from a superior enarthrosis wounded that required 3 years to afloat heal. And deliberation grooming during a pandemic is easy? Not successful a athletics that doesn’t premix with societal distancing.

“It’s been a pugnacious mates years, and (silver) is much than I would’ve had if I didn’t travel back,” Gray said.

She won 3 matches successful Japan, past picked a lousy clip to person a atrocious time astatine the office.

There was steely determination successful her gait arsenic she marched to the mat astatine Makuhari Messe Hall, a fancy sanction for a big, grey barn that looks arsenic if were built for monster trucks oregon livestock shows. Her foe was a beloved person successful the pioneering sorority of elite wrestlers. Rotter-Focken doesn’t ain the spiffy resume of Gray, a five-time satellite champion. But arsenic the 30-year-old German told maine 24 hours earlier: “I volition onslaught her. I volition enactment her nether unit and spot however she reacts.”

By nature, Gray plans everything to the nth degree. Spontaneity is not her thing. Maybe that explains wherefore she came retired looking  robotic successful the title match, pursuing her crippled program truthful assiduously she hide to person fun, giving distant a constituent to Rotter-Focken astir instantly done a punishment imposed for being excessively passive and tentative.

Trailing 1-0, possibly Gray over-reacted, lunging a the legs of her foe, who dodged the bull unreserved arsenic deftly arsenic a matador. Using Gray’s aggression against her, Rotter-Focken rapidly built her pb to 7-0 and deftly avoiding the grip of immoderate superior danger.

“Kudos to bully defense,” Gray said. “I’m a big, beardown woman. But she enactment her hips into maine and squashed maine to the ground.”

Making excuses isn’t Gray’s style. She was calved and raised successful the Rocky Mountains, wherever we ne'er look for a brushed spot to land, nary substance however slippery the slope. While grateful to correspond America astatine the Olympics, determination are days similar this one, Gray bluntly admitted, erstwhile she’s bummed her champion isn’t bully enough.

“This is really, truly hard. Wrestling is painful,” Gray said. “There are days erstwhile you conscionable don’t privation to bash it. Every azygous idiosyncratic with a occupation has those benignant of days. Mine conscionable comes with a small much punch successful the face.”

But wrestling is what defines her. The athletics has allowed her to question the world. The athletics introduced her to the antheral she married. In a sweaty wrestling room, wherever there’s obscurity to hide, the athletics dares adjacent a beardown volition to quit. But garbage to locomotion distant and the athletics worms its mode into the bosom of anyone who loves it.

The highest praise successful wrestling is: Leave it each connected the mat. And that fierce pridefulness successful warring until the past bead of sweat splats connected the mat has fostered 1 of the coolest traditions successful the sport. Upon retirement, earlier walking mode for the last time, a rival removes wrestling shoes worn into combat and leaves them connected the mat arsenic impervious there’s thing near to give.

After losing successful the Olympic finals, Gray said: “I didn’t instrumentality my shoes disconnected present for a reason.”

Wrestling has double-dog dared Gray to discontinue a gazillion times. When is the athletics going to larn she’s not the retiring type?