Michigan wrestler Myles Amine wins historic bronze for San Marino at Tokyo Olympics

Myles Amine is now, officially, one of the best wrestlers on the planet.

Amine, an All-American at Michigan, won a men’s freestyle bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Representing San Marino, Amine won twice, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, ET, to make the podium at 86 kilograms (189 pounds).

In doing so, Amine became San Marino’s first-ever Olympic wrestling medalist. He's also Michigan wrestling’s second-ever Olympic wrestling medalist — but the first to do so in men’s freestyle. Steve Fraser won Greco-Roman gold in 1984.

Amine, a Brighton native, went 3-1 this week on his way to bronze. He began his trek Tuesday evening (or Wednesday morning in Japan) with a 12-2 technical fall over Colombia’s Carlos Izquierdo Mendez.

In the quarterfinals, he met a familiar foe, David Taylor, a two-time NCAA champion at Penn State and the United States’ Olympian at 86-kilos. Amine scored an early takedown for a 2-0 lead, but Taylor rattled off 12 unanswered for a 12-2 technical fall.

Taylor went on to make the finals — and ultimately win gold, with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Iran’s Hassan Yazdanicharati — allowing Amine the opportunity to wrestle back for bronze.

At the Olympics and world championships, traditional consolation or wrestleback matches aren’t used. Once the two finalists are decided, the wrestlers they beat along the way are the only ones eligible to compete for bronze, in what's called the repechage.

That’s where Amine landed after Taylor defeated India’s Deepak Punia, 10-0, in the semifinals — and the Novi Detroit Central Catholic graduate took full advantage.

On Wednesday night, Amine muscled through Belarus’ Ali Shabanau, 2-0. Shabanau is a four-time world bronze medalist, but Amine scored two separate passivity points to win and advance to the bronze-medal match.

There, Amine matched up against Punia and trailed 2-1 late after Punia scored a takedown in the first period. But with 10 seconds left, Amine converted a single-leg shot to win, 3-2, and earn an Olympic medal.

Amine is the eighth Michigan wrestler ever to compete at the Olympic games and the first since Andy Hrovat qualified in 2008. Amine was not the only one competing this week, either, as Stevan Micic, a three-time All-American, represented Serbia at 57 kilograms (125 pounds). Micic went 0-1 and was eliminated from the competition on Tuesday.

Amine repped San Marino, a tiny landlocked European country of about 34,000 because of the family’s Sammarinese citizenship. His mother’s grandfather came to the U.S. from San Marino in the early 1900s.

By applying for, and receiving, the right to represent San Marino, Amine and his older brother, Malik, can not formally represent the U.S in international wrestling competitions. Amine said the decision to switch was tough.

“My brother and I, we both pledge allegiance to the United States before anything else,” Amine told the Livingston Daily in 2019. “It’s the country we live in. I would have been able to compete for a spot, and very well had a chance to make the team.

“We both decided the opportunity to wrestle for San Marino creates a much more unique situation where you get to go overseas and compete against the best competition in the world on a very consistent basis.

“It had nothing to do with national pride. If I had my way, I would wrestle for both countries. The opportunity to wrestle for San Marino was better in our situation.”

San Marino welcomed the Amine brothers with open arms. Myles Amine became the country’s first-ever Olympic wrestling qualifier after his fifth-place finish at the 2019 world championships, then served as one of the country’s flag-bearers, alongside swimmer Arianna Valloni, during the 2020 Olympic opening ceremony.

Amine’s medal is the third for San Marino these games. The others: Alessandra Perilli won bronze in women’s trap shooting, and then Perilli and Gian Marco Berti won silver in mixed trap shooting. Those are the first three Olympic medals ever for San Marino.

Just a few months ago, Amine battled his way through the NCAA Championships to become an All-American. He’s now an Olympic medalist, a historic honor for both San Marino and Michigan, and a title that’ll stay with him forever.

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Cody Goodwin is a wrestling and high school sports reporter for the Des Moines Register, covering the Olympics for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Michigan's Myles Amine wins bronze for San Marino