Burroughs wins gold, pockets 250K

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Jordan Burroughs walked away with gold and a cheque for a quarter of a million dollars after becoming the United States' first Olympic wrestling champion of London 2012.

America has a long history of successful Olympic wrestling campaigns, but they had not won gold in London until Burroughs defeated Iran's Sadegh Goudarzi 1-0 1-0 in the -74kg freestyle event tonight.
Burroughs, the poster boy of wrestling across the Atlantic, made his determination to win in London clear when he chose the Twitter handle @alliseeisgold, and he did not let the opportunity to top the podium slip by on Friday.
The 24-year-old from New Jersey started competing in international tournaments less two years ago, but he showed no nerves, clinching the first period after taking the Iranian down.
The second period looked set for a stalemate until Burroughs picked up Goudarzi and dumped him off the mat with barely 10 seconds left.
In addition to his gold medal, Burroughs leaves London with a cash prize of 250,000 US dollars as part of a commitment by USA Wrestling to honour any wrestler who tops the podium at the Games.
Uzbekistan's Soslan Tigiev and Russian Denis Tsargush claimed bronze in the weight division.
Burroughs was delighted to answer his critics, who have branded him lucky on the mat and too cocky off it.
He said: "A lot of people thought I was cocky and that I didn't have what it took, that I was lucky in the World Championships, but no-one is laughing now.
"I said yesterday [Thursday] that the next thing I'd tweet was me pictured with the gold. Whatever I tweet I mean it. I knew I was going to win.
"I have to be confident. I will wrestle anyone. If I was wrestling the Queen of England I would double-leg her!"
Burroughs admitted his 250,000 US dollar prize was a welcome bonus.
He added: "I was a poor college kid a year ago. I was getting 800 dollars a month as part of my scholarship and had to decide between food and gas a couple of times.
"I'm happy to have the money but I'm more happy to have the medal. My mum will probably want me to take her shopping though."
Earlier, Russia claimed their fourth wrestling gold of the Games after Dzhamal Otarsultanov beat Vladimer Khinchegashvili in the -55kg freestyle final.
Otarsultanov, 25, had never wrestled in a senior world championships before he came to London, but he performed well at the ExCeL, edging past his 21-year-old Georgian opponent 1-0 4-3.
The Russian said: "It was a difficult match, but it all depends on your attitude. I wanted to win so much.
"The gold medal was just so very important to me.
"I didn't feel injured today, pain was the last thing on my mind."