Olympics wrestling results: August 15th
By David Rouben
Results from Olympics Greco-Roman wrestling in the men’s 85 kg and 130 kg competitions from Monday, August 15.
When the IOC announced they wouldn’t be issuing a blanket ban on Russia for doping, the wrestlers were among the people who were most upset, mostly because they have by far the best athletes in the field. Russia now has two Gold medals –and three altogether– through two days before the Russian Tank and Bilyal Makhov have even gotten to step foot on the mat.
In the 85 kg tournament, American Ben Provisor knew he was in for a rough outing in the Round of 16 against Rustam Assakalov, a silver medalist in 2015. But while he fought valiantly, he lost his first match of the day, 6-3. Viktor Lorincz then beat Assakalov in the quarterfinal to keep Provisor out of the repechage.
The final was contested between Davit Chakvetadze and Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine. Chakvetadze was eager to add another wrestling Gold medal to Russia’s tally, but Beleniuk is the best 85 kg wrestler in the world, and he made life difficult for Davit in the first period. He secured a late two-point takedown, and narrowly missed getting a throw. But Davit came out guns blazing in the second period, and scored nine unanswered points en route to a Gold.
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The bronze medal matches saw Javid Hamzatau of Belarus and Denis Kudla take home the prizes. It was especially satisfying for Kudla who grinded through five matches to win a medal, and he celebrated by leaping into the crowd.
MEDAL RESULT | Men's Greco-Roman 85kg
The other American from today’s Greco-Roman competition was Robby Smith, and like his compatriot, he lost in the Round of 16. He came up against Azerbaijan’s Sabah Shariati who walked right through him by a count of 8-2. Shariati then got matched up against Riza Kayaalp, the best wrestler in the world at 130 kg, and as expected, Kayaalp won by fall to eliminate Smith from the field.
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In the 130 kg tournament, Cuba’s flagbearer Mijain Lopez Nunez had a chance to enter rarefied territory. Having won Gold in the past two Olympics, he was looking to make it three straight, and join an elite company of just two other men. But he faced a tough path to get there, and having won those past Golds at 120 kg, he knew he was punching above his weight.
Despite all that, Lopez Nunez pitched three shutouts while Kayaalp won all of his matches inside the distance to set up a highly anticipated Gold medal match. These two have a long history with each other: Kayaalp beat Lopez Nunez in the World Wrestling Championships in 2011 and 2015, while Lopez Nunez won their only Olympics meeting back in 2012.
In the final, Lopez Nunez got five points in the opening 30 seconds, and never looked back from there. He won by a final count of 6-0 to join Ismael Borrero Molina on the podium and etch his name in Cuban lore. In the bronze medal matches, Shariati won by pin inside two minutes, while Sergey Semenov secured Russia’s third medal of the day after getting a five-point throw.
MEDAL RESULT | Men's Greco-Roman 130kg
From Russian dominance to Olympics history being made, there was no shortage of storylines on this second day of wrestling.