Hannah Taylor's supporters gather in Summerside to watch 'a great loss'

P.E.I.'s Hannah Taylor had a difficult first draw in Olympic wrestling, and ultimately was unable to prevail in her Thursday morning match against number 1 seed Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan.

Kierra MacDougall, a 17-year-old wrestler also from Summerside, was among close to 60 people who gathered in Summerside at 6 a.m. to watch the bout.

"I was ill, really nervous, knowing she was going in fighting Japan," said MacDougall. "Japan is notorious for being a really tough team in wrestling."

Taylor lost the 57-kilogram class bout 6-1. She trailed 3-1 after the first period, recovering a point at the end of the round.

In the second period, Taylor was developing an advantage over Sakurai, but ran out of room and gave up a point for stepping outside the ring.

'A technical chess match'

Starting again from the centre, Sakurai pinned Taylor toward the end of the round for another two points, bringing the final score to 6-1.

"It was a great loss," said C.J. Studer, coach of the Summerside Cyclones and the organizer of the watch party.

"She was fighting the number one in the world. It was a technical chess match, is what it was."

Studer was impressed with the turnout at the watch party at Summerside's Credit Union Place. That early in the day, he was expecting only 10 people or so; six times that many showed up.

"We just want to let Hannah know that we have her back and we're cheering for her," said Studer.

MacDougall was thrilled to see Taylor competing at the Olympics.

Pride and nerves as Islanders gather to watch P.E.I.'s Hannah Taylor wrestle at Paris Olympics

4 months ago

Duration 1:50

Friends and fans of Summerside's Hannah Taylor gathered at Credit Union to watch her first Olympic wrestling match on Thursday. CBC's Stacey Janzer stopped by and spoke with C.J. Studer, the head coach of the Summerside Cyclones wrestling team, and wrestler Kierra MacDougall about how it felt to watch Taylor compete on the world stage.

"It means a lot because Summerside is such a small town," she said. "It just shows that Summerside can be big. It can compete with the rest of the world."

'I scored on the number one'

Speaking in Paris after the match, Taylor said she had received hundreds of messages of support and is pleased by her performance in Paris so far.

"I feel good that I scored on the number-one-ranked wrestler in the entire world," she said. "I knew I was up for a very hard match first off, but if I'm going to lose, it might as well be to the very best wrestler."

Taylor will have another chance to compete in the repechage at 6 a.m. AT Friday. 

If she wins that bout, the bronze medal matches start at 1:15 p.m. AT. There will be two such matches, with two bronze medals being awarded as is traditional in Olympic wrestling.