59 kg GR - AUGUST 14 Four gold medalists in field
Once again, 59 kg/130 lbs. appears to be among the deepest Greco-Roman weight classes worldwide with four past Olympic and World champions expected to wrestle in Rio.
Reigning Olympic champion and six- JESSE THIELKE
Residence: Germantown, Wis. Club: New York AC College: Wisconsin High School: Germantown, Wis. Born: June 9, 1992
Past Olympics: None Past Sr. Worlds: 8th (2013) UWW World Rank: No. 19
Career Notes • 2016 U.S. Olympic Team member • Eighth in 2013 World Championships • 2012 Junior World bronze medalist • Second in 2nd World Olympic Qualifier (Turkey) • Second in 2015 U.S. Open • Third in 2013 and 2016 U.S. Open • Four-time U.S. Junior World Team member (2009, 2010) • 2009 Cadet Pan American champion
USA Age-group: 2010 Junior Folkstyle Nationals champion… 2009 UWW Cadet Nationals champion… 2007 and 2008 Cadet Nationals Greco-Roman champi- on… 2008 Cadet Folkstyle Nationals champion… 2008 Preseason Folkstyle Nationals champion… 2007 Cadet Nationals runner-up in freestyle… 2006 Schoolboy Triple Crown winner after capturing titles in Folkstyle, Greco- Roman and freestyle… College: Competed for the University of Wisconsin, coached by Barry Davis… NCAA qualifier… High School: Three-time state champion for Germantown High School… Personal: Son of Jeff and Pam Thielke…
time World champion Hamid Soryan of Iran enters the 2016 Olympic Games as one of the top credentialed wrestlers regardless of weight class or style. After winning the Olympics in 2012, Soryan took 2013 off. He returned in 2014 to win the World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At last year’s World Championships in
Age: 24
Las Vegas, Soryan was disqualified from the competition in the quarterfinal round for excessive brutality and was deemed ineligible for a medal. Capitalizing on Soryan’s World Championship meltdown last year was four-time World medalist, two-time Olympic silver medalist and longtime rival Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan. A reju- venated Bayramov was able to secure the 59 kg silver medal. Bayramov won gold at the World Championships in 2011, prior to falling to Soryan in the finals of the 2012 Olympic Games. Cuban Ismael Borrero won six straight
bouts to claim the World title. In the championship match, Borrero locked up gold with an 8-0 technical fall victory over Bayramov. He also placed fifth at the 2014 World Championships. The Borrero win came as quite the surprise given his seventh-place finish at the 2015 Pan American Games, where he lost to long- time U.S. star Spenser Mango in the first round.
North Korea’s Won-Chol Yun claimed
World gold in Budapest, Hungary back in 2013. He also owns a bronze medal from the 2015 World Championships where he lost to Bayramov, 8-7. Yun wrestled at the 2012 Olympic Games but did not medal. He won a World Military gold medal in 2013. Joining Yun as a bronze medalist at the 59 kg Worlds last year was Almat Kebispayev of Kazakhstan who added World medal number three to his collec- tion in Las Vegas. Kebispayev finished in fifth place at the 2012 Olympics and won a World University title in 2008. Stig Andre Berge of Norway, Kristijan Fris of Serbia and Elmurat Tasmuradov of Uzbekistan round out an impressive list of eight expected Olympic entrants
4 USA Wrestling Rio Media Guide
Jesse Thielke: by Tony Rotundo
who have won a World medal on the Senior level. After some uncertainty, Russia select-
ed Stepan Maranyan to compete at 59 kg in Rio. Maranyan was a 2010 Junior World champion, and competed in the 2015 Worlds but did not medal. He won the 2015 European Games and was sec- ond at the Russian Nationals. Budding U.S. star Jesse Thielke will get his first crack at the Olympic Games after upending two-time Olympian Spenser Mango at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Thielke solidified his berth at the Olympic Games by placing second at the 2nd World Olympic Games Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey. He defeated two Olympic medalists, among others, to make the finals and qualify for Rio. The Wisconsin native won a Junior
World bronze medal in 2012 and was a member of the 2013 Senior U.S. World Team. He finished in eighth place at the 2013 World Championships at 60 kg/132 lbs.
Other 59 kg wrestlers to watch are Soslan Daurov of Belarus who finished in fifth place at the World Championships last year and 2012 Olympian Arsen Eraliev of Kyrgyzstan, plus experienced Lee Jung Baek of Korea, Shinobu Ota of Japan and Haithem Mahmoud of Egypt.
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