Being blue one reason why wrestler Carol Huynh returned to the podium at London Olympic Games

She couldn't feel blue. Why should she? Blue was one reason why Carol Huynh was able to add to her medal collection at the London Olympic Games Wednesday.

Huynh defeated Senegal's Isabelle Sambou in the bronze medal match of the 48-kilogram class. The 31-year-old won the gold four years ago in Beijing but still felt like a winner by reaching the podium again.

"I'm feel amazing. I feel happy. I feel relieved,'' said the New Hazelton, B.C., native who now lives in Calgary. "At the end of that match I was feeling elated that I'd won another medal for Canada, but at the same time I wanted to go out with a little more flare.

"I didn't want it to end in two clinches. I'll take it. I want that bronze medal.''

The B.C. Sports Hall of Fame didn't waste any time sending Huynh a message of congratulations.

"We can't wait to add that bronze medal to our Hall of fame bio,'' the hall officials said in a tweet.

[Slideshow: Carol Huynh wrestles her way to bronze]

In another bronze medal match Canada's Martine Dugrenier lost to Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia in the 63-kilogram class.

"It's hard to be so close,'' the 33-year-old from Montreal told Postmedia.

Huynh needed skill, perseverance and a little luck to return to the podium.

She was dominate in her first two bouts, pinning Thi Lua Nguyen of Vietnam in 34 seconds and then dispatching Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in two rounds, scoring three points in each.

Huynh's hopes for repeating as champion ended when she lost in the semifinals to Japan's Hitomi Obara, an eight-time world champion.

In the bronze medal match Sambou grabbed at Huynh's wrist and hands and clinched without attaching. Both of the first two rounds were scoreless and went to tiebreakers.

This is where the luck happened. A wrestling tiebreaker involves one wrestler pulling a coloured ball out of a sack. The wrestler whose singlet matches the colour gets to start a clinch, holding the opponent's leg.

If the person holding the leg scores a takedown, they win the round. If the person whose leg is being held avoids being taken down for 30 seconds, they win the round.

[Slideshow: Canada on Day 12]

The advantage usually goes to the person holding the leg. Twice the blue ball was drawn which meant Huynh, who was wearing blue, was given the advantage. Both times Huynh took down Sambou with a double-leg takedown.

"It's pretty nerve-racking,'' said Huynh. ''In my head I was thinking blue, blue, blue. And it worked, both times.''

As endings goes it didn't match something seen on WWE. No one was hit by a chair or came out of crowd to hit the opponent when they weren't looking.

Still, it worked for Huynh.

"I would want to end this tournament more decisively, but that's the way wrestling is right now, with the rules,'' she said. "I feel that the result today, I definitely deserved it.

"That's the way the sport goes. Sometimes it ends on pulling a colour out of a bag."

Even getting to the London Games was a battle for Huynh.

After 2008 she was bothered by a bulging disc in her neck then a knee problem. Just over two months ago she tweaked the medial collateral ligament in her other knee. Since then Huynh had wrestled only one round of a Canada Cup match in late June.

Dugrenier has won six world championship medals but all have come at the 67-kilogram level. She finished fifth in the 63-kilogram category at the 2008 Games.

Since two bronze medals are giving out in wrestling she was fifth again in London.

"I worked hard for four years,'' she said. "I knew that was my dream to get an Olympic medal here and it didn't happen. But like I said, that's not the end of life."

More Olympics coverage on Yahoo! Canada Sports:
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• Sinclair looks ahead to bronze match
• Photos: Inspirational Olympic moments
• Video: Despatie upbeat in swan song