66 kg and 98 kg GR - AUGUST 16 Staebler, Aleksanyan boast 2015 World golds
Tuesday, August 16 is the third day of Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and competition will be held at 66 kg and 98 kg. The United States did not qualify to compete in Rio at these weight classes, which are previewed below.
GRECO-ROMAN 66 KG There have been three different World champions at this weight class over this Olympic cycle, with Frank Staebler of Germany the 2015 champion, Davor Stefanek of Serbia the 2014 champion and Han-Su Ryu of Korea the 2013 champion. All will be seeking their first Olympic title. Staebler had a strong effort at the 2015
Worlds in Las Vegas, and adds a bronze medal from the 2013 World Championships. He was fifth at the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2011 and 2014 World Championships. He tuned up for Rio by winning summer tournaments in Poland and Germany. 2014 World champion Ryu of Korea was the World silver medalist in 2015 behind Staebler, giving him two World medals in this Olympic cycle. Add in an Asian Games title for him. He was also a Junior World bronze medalist in 2007. Stefanek has also been a strong con- tender from many years, winning a bronze medal at the 2015 Worlds to go with his 2013 World gold. He competed in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and was a 2015 Junior World champion. Russia’s entry will be Islambek Albiev, a 2008 Olympic champion, 2009 World champion and 2013 World silver medalist. Albiev won all three of his events so far in 2016, the Poddubny Tournament in Russia, the European Championships and the Russian Nationals.
Omid Noroozi of Iran was the Olympic champion at 60 kg in 2012, and also the 2011 World Champion. He moved up to 66 kg after the London Games, where he was a 2014 World silver medalist. Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan was the 2015 World champion at 71 kg, but has dropped to 66 kg where he will seek the Olympic gold. He won his only tourna- ment at 66 kg this year, the 2nd World Olympic Qualifier in Turkey. Tamas Lorincz of Hungary won a 2012 Olympic silver medal and added a World bronze medal in 2014. He punched his ticket for Rio by winning the European
18 USA Wrestling Rio Media Guide
Olympic Qualifier. Edgardas Venckaitis of Lithuania was a 2014 World bronze medalist at this weight class. He was seventh in the 2012 Olympic Games Placing fifth at the 2015 Worlds were
Tarek Benaissa of Algeria and Migran Arutyunyan of Armenia. Benaissa has won the 2014 African Championships and the 2015 All-Africa Games. Arutyunyan won silver at the 2015 European Games, and was also a 2009 Junior World silver medalist. Wuileixis Rivas of Venezuela won the 2016 Pan American Olympic Qualifier, but is replaced on the Olympic roster by little known Alexander Torres. Tomohiro Inoue of Japan won the Asian Olympic Qualifier. His best previous finish was a bronze medal at the 2013 Asian Championships. Adham Kahk of Egypt, the African/Oceania Olympic Qualifier champion, added a bronze at the Grand Prix of Spain this summer. Cuba’s Miguel Martinez has won the last three Pan American Championships (2014-2016).
Others in the field include Tero
Vaelimaki of Finland, Shmagi Bolkvadze of Georgia, Ruslan Tsarev of Kyrgyzstan and Ion Panait of Romania. Craig Miller of New Zealand was added after Australia’s entry was deleted for doping.
GRECO-ROMAN 98 KG Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia has been one of the most consistent stars at the weight class, winning the last two World gold medals in 2014 and 2015 with a powerful style of wrestling. Aleksanyan was also the 2013 World silver medalist and a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist. He won the 2010 Junior World title. He also has claimed three European titles. His top challenger could be 2012 Olympic champion Ghasem Rezaei of Iran, who was second at the 2015 World Championships and third at the 2014 World Championships. He also won a bronze in the 2007 World Championships and competed in the 2008 Olympics. The 2013 World champion was Nikita Melnikov of Russia, but he won’t be going to Rio. Islam Magomedov was third at the 2015 World Championships and won the 2016 Russian Nationals to get the Olympic berth. He was a 2010 and 2011 Junior World champion and won the 2015 European Games.
Bulgaria’s Elis Guri was a World cham- pion in 2011 and was fifth at the 2015 Worlds. He started his career in Albania, who he represented at the 2008 Olympic Games, but moved to Bulgaria and repre- sented them in the 2012 Olympic Games. 2009 World champion Balasz Kiss of Hungary will be competing in his first Olympic Games. He was also a World bronze medalist in 2013. He has also won silver medals at the University World Championships and the Junior World Championships. 2010 World silver medalist Tsimafei Dzeinichenka of Belarus was fifth at the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2011 World Championships. He also claimed a 2011 European Championships gold medal. Cenk Ildem of Turkey was a 2011 and 2014 World bronze medalist, as well as a 2006 Junior World champion. Ildem added a University World title in 2008, and has four career European Championships medals. Dmitry Timchenko of Ukraine was a 2015 World bronze medalist and won a silver medal at the 2015 European Games. Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu of Romania placed
fifth at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. A 2010 Junior World sil- ver medalist, he also competed in the 2012 Olympic Games. Winning the Asian Olympic Qualifier was Di Xiao of China, whose best finish at a World Championships was seventh in 2015. He is a past Junior World bronze medalist. Yasmany Lugo of Cuba won the Pan American Olympic Qualifier. He has won five Pan American Championships golds, plus the 2015 Pan American Games. Ardo Arusaar of Estonia won the European Olympic Qualifier, his best per- formance ever at a major event. Arusaar was eighth at the 2012 Olympic Games. Egypt’s Hamdy Abdelwahab, the Africa/Oceania Qualifier champion, won a 2010 Youth Olympic Games silver medal. Daigoro Timoncini of Italy was the last athlete to qualify for this weight class, by taking second at the 2nd World Olympic Qualifier in Turkey, making him a three- time Olympian after also competing in London in 2012 and in Beijing in 2008. Also watch Carl Fredrik Schoen of Sweden, Revazi Nadareishvili of Georgia, Hardeep of India and Luillys Jose Perez of Venezuela.
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