Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | September 4, 2003
Education | Arizona State University |
Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
Sport | Wrestling |
Weight class | 76 kg |
Club | Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club |
Kennedy Blades (born September 4, 2003) [1] is an American wrestler. She qualified to represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Blades is from Chicago, Illinois. [1] She and her younger sister, Korina, started taking Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes when she was four years old. [2] She later switched to wrestling at age seven, joining a small club in the area. [2] As there were not many girls she could wrestle against, she often trained against boys. [2] She won several championships competing against boys, including becoming the first female to win the IKWF Illinois state title, in 2016. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Blades and her sister, also a wrestler, attended Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, the first American high school to have a girls wrestling program. [2] She said that "because there weren't any women’s high school wrestling teams in the nation, we had to travel around the world to get competition" – while in high school, she competed against wrestlers from countries including Japan, Russia, Estonia, Austria and Sweden. [2] Blades won the U.S. cadet national championship in 2018, and the U16 national championship, U17 national championship, and junior national championship in 2019. [1]
At age 17, Blades finished runner-up at the U.S. trials for the 2020 Summer Olympics, losing to Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who went on to win the Olympic gold medal. [3] After she graduated from high school, she joined the wrestling club Sunkist Kids in Arizona and enrolled at Arizona State University. [2] Blades was the gold medalist at the 2021 U20 world championship and later won silver at the 2023 U23 world championship. [1] She also won gold at the 2023 Ibrahim Moustafa Tournament. [1] In 2024, she defeated 2020 Olympic medalist Adeline Gray at the U.S. Olympic trials, thus qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics. [5] [6]
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | September 4, 2003
Education | Arizona State University |
Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
Sport | Wrestling |
Weight class | 76 kg |
Club | Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club |
Kennedy Blades (born September 4, 2003) [1] is an American wrestler. She qualified to represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Blades is from Chicago, Illinois. [1] She and her younger sister, Korina, started taking Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes when she was four years old. [2] She later switched to wrestling at age seven, joining a small club in the area. [2] As there were not many girls she could wrestle against, she often trained against boys. [2] She won several championships competing against boys, including becoming the first female to win the IKWF Illinois state title, in 2016. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Blades and her sister, also a wrestler, attended Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, the first American high school to have a girls wrestling program. [2] She said that "because there weren't any women’s high school wrestling teams in the nation, we had to travel around the world to get competition" – while in high school, she competed against wrestlers from countries including Japan, Russia, Estonia, Austria and Sweden. [2] Blades won the U.S. cadet national championship in 2018, and the U16 national championship, U17 national championship, and junior national championship in 2019. [1]
At age 17, Blades finished runner-up at the U.S. trials for the 2020 Summer Olympics, losing to Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who went on to win the Olympic gold medal. [3] After she graduated from high school, she joined the wrestling club Sunkist Kids in Arizona and enrolled at Arizona State University. [2] Blades was the gold medalist at the 2021 U20 world championship and later won silver at the 2023 U23 world championship. [1] She also won gold at the 2023 Ibrahim Moustafa Tournament. [1] In 2024, she defeated 2020 Olympic medalist Adeline Gray at the U.S. Olympic trials, thus qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics. [5] [6]