Aug. 21, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa - Penn State Nittany Lion all-time great Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.) suffered a last-second defeat in the Bronze Medal match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. Molinaro's fifth place performance ties the best all-time finish ever for a Nittany Lion wrestling for the United States. He dropped a 5-3 dec. to world No. 1 Frank Chamizo of Italy.
Molinaro, a four-time All-American and the 2012 NCAA Champion, began his Olympic medal quest at 65 kg with a 2-2 win over Poland's Magomedmurad Gadzhiev in the first round. He then dropped a 10-0 match to defending Olympic Gold Medalist from 2012, Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals.
Asgarov won his semifinal match, pushing Molinaro into the repechage, keeping his medal hopes alive. The Nittany Lion great dominated Ukraine's Andriy Kvyatkovsky 8-5 in his first repechage match, moving into the Bronze Medal match against Italy's Frank Chamizo.
In the Bronze Medal match, Molinaro gave up a first period passivity point and then notched the opening stanza's lone takedown to lead 2-1 after three minutes. Chamizo tied the bout up 2-2 by forcing Molinaro into another Passivity and then took the Nittany Lion down to take a 4-2 lead. Molinaro then rallied, putting forth a flurry of shots and connecting as time wound down.
Knowing that a takedown would tie the bout at 4-4 and give him the win, Molinaro connected on a low single and gained control of Chamizo's ankles. With the clock ticking away, Molinaro worked to force the Italian down to the mat for the score but Chamizo was able to work his way out of bounds, giving up one point instead of the critical two. Molinaro's corner, featuring Lion assistant coach Cody Sanderson, challenged the call to no avail and Chamizo claimed the Bronze with a 5-3 win.
Molinaro's setback in the third place bout gave him a fifth place finish at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. The fifth place finish at 65 kg matches the best-ever place for a Nittany Lion wrestling for the United States. Two-time Olympian Kerry McCoy placed fifth at 286 kg in Sydney in 2000.
Having just wrapped up another year as an assistant coach on the Penn State staff, Molinaro booked one of the greatest careers in Nittany Lion wrestling history. He was a four-time All-American and the 2012 NCAA Champion at 149 pounds. He placed eighth, fifth and second as well. Molinaro ended his career with a 121-29 career record.
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