Canada's Dori Yeats, right, wrestles Sweden's Anna Jenny Fransson in the women's freestyle 69kg bronze medal match at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. Yeats was defeated by Fransson.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Montreal wrestler Dori Yeats just missed the Olympic podium Wednesday. She lost 3-1 to Jenny Fransson of Sweden in the bronze-medal match.
Yeats won her match bout in the round of 16 of the 69-kilogram division, but was defeated by eventual gold medallist Sara Dosho of Japan in the quarter-finals.
A win over Buse Tosun of Turkey in the repechage propelled the Canadian to the bronze-medal bout.
Yeats, 23, made her Olympic debut in Rio. She was up against 29-year-old veteran Fransson, who is a former world champion in 75 kilograms, for a medal.
The Swede led 2-0 before Yeats pushed her outside the protection zone for one out-of-bounds point.
The Canadian had Fransson on the edge of the zone again as time wound down, but couldn't generate more points.
"With two seconds at the end, I could have won, but all that means is I should have done that two seconds earlier," Yeats said.
"It's unfortunate I couldn't come away with a medal to show for it. I have a ton of confidence now for the future. I know exactly what I need to work on.
"Having four matches here . . . I have a really nice idea of what the Olympics are about and my opponents and how I can improve."
Yeats is following in the footsteps of her five-time Olympian father Doug, a Greco-Roman wrestler who won gold at the 1979 Pan American Games and competed in four Summer Games.
Yeats won a gold of her own at last year's Pan Am Games in Toronto, coming back from knee injury earlier in the year. She also captured gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
"I definitely got the experience I was supposed to get," Yeats said. "I'm excited for next year's world championships to face these same girls again and show them in a year this is how much better I got and see how much better I get every year after that.
"Honestly, if things go as smoothly as they good, 2020, I don't see how anyone could beat me."
Canada's coach Leigh Vierling says Yeats could have been more aggressive at certain points in the bout for bronze.
"Dori is a great athlete and a great wrestler. She's just not quite there yet," Vierling said. "She's just held back a little bit today. We could sense it. She's got a lot on the tank.
"You have to let go of your security blanket at some point in time. (Against) the really solid, best athletes, you have to bang on that door until the sucker falls in."
Erica Wiebe of Stittsville, Ont., Saskatoon's Jillian Gallays and Danielle Lappage of Olds, Alta., are on the mats Thursday.