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Bakersfield native Jake Varner walked away from the London Olympics with a gold medal, after he defeated Ukraine's Valerii Andriitsev in the 96 kilogram freestyle wrestling division on Sunday. He's not the first San Joaquin Valley wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. In 2004, Fresno's Steven Abas won silver at the Athens games in freestyle wrestling.
LONDON -- It's never clear at the Olympics exactly where gold medalists go after they get their prizes -- mixed zones, press conferences, TV interviews. The hours after that brief moment on the podium are a whirlwind. But sometimes it's absolutely clear where they come from.
