Freestyle wrestler Lee Hanbit lost her first match of the Paris Olympics on Friday, after receiving a last-minute entry into the competition.

Lee lost to Luisa Niemesch of Germany 3-0 in the round of 16 in the women’s 62-kilogram freestyle event at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris.

Lee didn’t initially qualify for the Olympics, after losing in the semifinals of the Asian qualification tournament in April. But Lee gained entry last week after Mun Hyon-gyong of North Korea withdrew from the Olympics.

But Lee couldn’t get anything going against the 2024 European championships silver medalist.

If Niemesch advanced to the final, Lee would have earned a second life in the repechage round. However, Niemesch lost to Grace Bullen of Norway in the quarterfinals later Friday.

Lee said afterward she should have been more aggressive against the German.

“I could have done better. I should have gone in with more confidence,” Lee said. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go for an Olympic medal. I am disappointe
d that I wasted that chance.”

Lee had little time to prepare after only arriving in Paris earlier this week.

“I wasn’t able to follow my routines. I had just finished a domestic event and had to come over here at the last minute,” Lee said. “But I didn’t want to be in too much of a rush. I tried to stay calm and trust the work I’d put in to get here.”

Lee was the first South Korean female wrestler in 12 years to compete at an Olympic Games.

Before Lee, two male Greco-Roman wrestlers, Lee Seung-chan in 130kg and Kim Seung-jun in 97kg, had both lost their first matches in the round of 16. They both ended up in the repechage round but fell short of reaching their respective bronze medal matches there.

South Korea has now been shut out of wrestling medals at back-to-back Olympic Games, after settling for one bronze medal in 2016.

Source: Yonhap News Agency