But despite two shots at the podium, the one-time Mississaugan and current Guelph resident couldn’t find her footing.
The 29-year-old was pinned in her opening bout and then lost by the skin of her singlet in the repechage in the women’s 72-kilogram event at the China Agricultural University gymnasium Sunday afternoon.
“It’s not what you want at an Olympics but that’s what happens in sports,” a disappointed Akuffo, who first learned to wrestle in Mississauga, said. “So you go out there do your best and you look at it and evaluate and get better.
“I’m very proud to be here when my teammates got the first gold medal of the Games and a bronze. We’re in the top half of our sport in the world. We can’t complain as a women’s program.”
It’s just the second Summer Games for women’s wrestling and the national squad took two of the four medals — Carol Huynh, of Hazelton, B.C., won gold in the 48-kilo event and veteran Tonya Verbeek, of Beamsville, took bronze at 55 kg Saturday.
But the wrestler who works at the Cambridge Home Depot missed out on the Olympic hardware.
“You come into it wanting to see the best and see what you can do,” the Akuffo said. “I’m going to go back and learn from it. Then hopefully in four years you will see me here again.”
It was a tough draw for Akuffo. Matches are picked at random and it was rotten luck when she was pitted against Stanka Zlateva in her opening bout. The bruising Bulgarian is the two-time defending world champion in her class and would eventually go on to win the gold medal.
But Akuffo looked focused as she entered the gym, eyes firmly fixed straight ahead. She used her speed to battle for position early on but the crafty Zlateva scored a two-point take down just before the end of the opening round.
The Bulgarian earned another point in round two, then quickly converted a take down into a pin. And just like that, the match was over.
Then the waiting game began. Akuffo could qualify for the repechage — a second chance tournament that could lead to the bronze medal — if Zlateva made it to the gold medal match.
About two hours later, she got the good word. The Bulgarian went through and Akuffo was still alive. Defeat Spain’s Maider Unda and then Agnieszka Wieszczek of Poland and she’d be battling for bronze.
Not an easy task, but a shot nonetheless.
It was back and forth with Unda. Each grappler took a round before the Spaniard edged ahead in the third by one point to move on.
“It was a close match,” said Akuffo. “Everybody who comes to the Olympics aren’t slugs. Everybody has skills. Sometimes you get caught in the moment with seconds left and you have to pull the trigger. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t.”
