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U.S. fails to qualify Olympic men’s freestyle weight class for first time

There will be a men’s freestyle wrestling division at a non-boycotted Olympics without a U.S. entry for the first time this summer.

Frank Molinaro failed in his last chance to earn the U.S. a 65kg berth in Rio, losing in the quarterfinals of an Olympic qualifying tournament in Istanbul on Sunday.

Molinaro, the Olympic Trials champion, needed to make the finals to clinch an Olympic spot.

The U.S. had four previous chances to earn a Rio berth in the division at the 2015 World Championships (Brent Metcalf lost in the round of 16 when he needed to be top six), a March Pan American tournament (Metcalf lost in the quarterfinals when he needed to make the final) and an April world tournament in Mongolia (Molinaro lost in the round of 16 when he needed to be top three).