85 kg GR - AUGUST 15 Wide open field at 85 kg in Rio The 85 kg/187 lbs. Greco-Roman
weight class at the 2016 Olympic Games is one of the more wide-open brackets in terms of dark horse talent pulling through for a medal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ukrainian Zhan Beleniuk scored a dynamic gold-medal performance at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. His list of wins in Las Vegas included past World medalists Viktor Loerincz of Hungary, Damian Janikowski of Poland, Saman Tahmasebi of Azerbaijan and Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan. After winning his first World title last September, Beleniuk topped the charts at four international competitions including the World Military Games and European Championships. His only loss this year came to Russian upstart David Chakvetadze in the finals of the Golden Grand Prix Finals in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 25-year-old Ukrainian topped Assakalov in the World finals last year convincingly, 6-0. Last year’s World silver is the only World medal Assakalov has earned, but he does own gold medals from the 2015 Asian Championships and 2014 Asian Games. Azerbaijan’s Tahmasebi has earned five
World medals since 2006, two silver and three bronze. He has also participated in
the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, giv- ing him the edge on experience. Tahmasebi wrestled for Iran through
the 2008 Olympics, but elected to switch over to Azerbaijan thereafter. Tahmasebi fell to Belenuik, 3-1, in the semifinals of the World Championships last year. Veteran Habibollah Akhlaghi of Iran
pushed through for World bronze in 2015, his first World-level medal since 2009 where he also took bronze. Akhlaghi was an Olympian in 2012 and has a 2008 University World title to his credit. Hungary’s Loerincz is a serious medal
threat come Rio after wrestling for a World bronze medal the past three years. He finished with a World bronze in 2013 and 2014 followed by a fifth place finish last year. The Russian entrant at 85 kg is still up
in the air between 2015 European Games champion Chakvetadze and 2004 Olympic champion Aleksej Mishin. Chakvetadze topped Mishin in the finals of Russian Nationals, but Mishin was the man to qualify Russia to compete in Rio. Mishin has won gold medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Military Games, World Military Championships, and Junior Worlds throughout his legendary career. Rami Hietaniemi of Finland finished in
fifth place at the World Championships last year. His only World medal came in 2011 when he won bronze. Hietaniemi was an Olympian in 2012. Another wrestler bringing a World
medal pedigree to Rio is Javid Gamzatov of Belarus who won bronze in 2013. That same year he was a bronze medalist at the World University Games. Armenia’s Maksim Manukyan won a
bronze medal at the 2014 World Military Championships, a silver medal at the 2013 World University Championships and a bronze medal at the 2011 World Beach Championships. Georgian Roberti Kobliashvili placed
second to Beleniuk at the European Championships this year. American Ben Provisor will make his
return Olympic appearance in Rio de Janeiro. Provisor was a three-time Junior World Team member for the U.S. from 2008-10 prior to making the U.S. Olympic Team in 2012. Past Cadet World champion and Junior
Ben Provisor: by Tony Rotundo
World silver medalist Denis Kudla of Germany could play spoiler.
BEN PROVISOR
Residence: Colorado Springs, Colo. Club: New York AC College: Northern Michigan High School: Stevens Point, Wis. Born: June 26, 1990
Age: 26
Career Notes: • 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic Team member • 2011 and 2013 U.S. Open champion • Second in 2011 Pan American Games • Three-time Junior World Team mem- ber (2008-10) • 2015 Dave Schultz Memorial International champion • 2014 Bill Farrell International champi- on • 2013 New York AC International cham- pion • Second in 2016 U.S. Open • Second in 2011 and 2014 World Team Trials Past Olympics: 11th (2012) Past Sr. Worlds: None UWW World Rank: unranked
Expected field at 85 kg/187.5 lbs. Algeria - Adem Boudjemline Armenia - Maksim Manukyan Azerbaijan - Saman Tahmasebi Belarus - Javid Gamzatov Bulgaria - Nikolai Bayrakov China - Fei Peng Egypt - Ahmed Saad Finland - Rami Hietaniemi Georgia - Roberti Kobliashvili Germany - Denis Kudla Hungary -Viktor Loerincz India - Ravinder Khatri Iran - Habibollah Akhlaghi Kyrgyzstan - Yanarbek Kenzheev Mexico - Alfonso Leyva Yepez Russia – David Chakvetadze or
Aleksej Mishin Sweden – Zakarias Berg Ukraine - Zhan Beleniuk United States – Ben Provisor Uzbekistan - Rustam Assakalov
USA Wrestler 9
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