In First Competition Since Winning Olympic Gold, Anastasija Zolotic Takes Bronze At Taekwondo Grand Prix In Rome

Anastasija Zolotic celebrates winning the women's 57kg gold-medal bout at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on July 25, 2021 in Chiba, Japan.

Last July, Anastasija Zolotic became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in taekwondo. 
But the 57 kg. Olympic champion had to wait months to compete again. 
World Taekwondo had not held a grand prix since 2019 until this weekend’s event in Rome. Zolotic made the most of it, coming home with a bronze medal in her first international competition since the Tokyo Olympics. 
The 19-year-old was perfect through her first two bouts. In the Round of 16, the Colorado Springs, Colorado, native defeated Anna-lena Froemming of Germany 2-0. She got the same result in the quarterfinals against Giada Al Halwani of Italy. 
Zolotic then met two-time Olympic champion Jade Jones of Great Britain in the semifinals and fell 2-1. Zolotic won the first round, but Jones battled back to take the next two rounds to advance to the final. Jones went on to lose to Zongshi Luo of China in the final.
With no third-place bout, Zolotic and Canada’s Skylar Park each won bronze medals.
While Zolotic didn’t repeat her gold-medal performance from the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, she posted on Instagram to celebrate the performance.
“Bronze medal finish for me this Grand Prix in Rome,” she wrote. “Not the medal we came here for but I’m extremely blessed to be able to have these opportunities, and be back in the ring after a year!”