#WrestleTokyo

Denied ticket over COVID, Guinean Olympian clings to dream

Friday, July 30, 2021 - 11:48 By United World Wrestling Press

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Over the last few weeks, wrestlers from around the world have been arriving in Japan in preparation for this week's Tokyo Olympic Games. After navigating through several roadblocks that looked to have derailed her trip, Fatoumata Yarie CAMARA's (GUI) arrived in Japan just in time to lace up her boots and become the first Guinean woman to compete at the Olympic Games.

"Fatoumata Yarie Camara is used to being thrown to the ground and getting up again, getting back into the fight. She’s dedicated her life to wrestling, a sport that breeds tenacity. On the mat, she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, the only athlete from Guinea to do so. Off the mat, she has battled the beliefs of her culture and family that women don’t belong in sports. 

Camara endured delays as the pandemic threatened the Games. Then, three days before the rescheduled opening ceremony, her dream of standing alongside the world’s best athletes teetered on a plane ticket — one she couldn’t afford and government officials hadn’t given her. Saying they wanted to keep Guinea’s athletes safe from COVID-19, the West African country withdrew from the Olympics entirely."

Read more on the AP site ... here

#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Greco-Roman Previews

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 - 21:04 By United World Wrestling Press

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Greco-Roman Previews

60kg
The last time the Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan won two gold medals in Greco-Roman wrestling. 57 years later, Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) will have a chance to repeat the feat the world champion at 60kg leads the country's hope for a Greco-Roman Olympic champion in 37 years.

FULL PREVIEW

67kg
Big challenges lie ahead of returning Olympic champion Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB). The first is he is making his return in a new weight category, eight kilograms above the 59kg in which won a gold medal in the Rio Olympics.

Five world champions appear in the category which may throw a surprise Olympic champion given a mix of youth and veterans at this weight.

FULL PREVIEW

77kg
Two-time defending Olympic champion Roman VLASOV's (RUS) reign as the top wrestler will be over after nine years. The winner of the gold medal in 2012 and 2016 failed to win the spot on the Russian team, which means a new Olympic champion will be crowned at this weight.

FULL PREVIEW

87kg
Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) will look to improve on the Olympic silver medal he won at the 2016 Rio Games. He won gold at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, which was his second world title after claiming gold in 2015. The 30-year-old Beleniuk has five world medals and four European gold medals. Earlier this year, Beleniuk won gold at the Grand Prix of Zagreb before getting a bronze at the European Championships in April. He enters the Tokyo Olympics as the No.2 seed at 87kg.

FULL PREVIEW

97kg
One of wrestling's greatest rivalries could be renewed in Tokyo if the seeds hold. Musa EVLOEV (RUS) and Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM), two of Greco-Roman's biggest stars, enter Tokyo Games as the top two seeds at 97kg. They have combined to win every world or Olympic title in this weight category since 2014.

FULL PREVIEW

130kg
Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ (CUB) will look to make history at the Tokyo Olympics. The Cuban wrestling legend, who enters unseeded, has a chance to become the first four-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman and the second wrestler in any style to accomplish the feat. (At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Japan's Kaori ICHO became the first four-time Olympic champion wrestler in any style.) The 38-year-old Lopez is not only unbeaten at the Olympic Games since 2008, but he has won five world titles and three world silver medals. Two of his three losses in world championship competition have come to Riza KAYAALP (TUR), who enters the Tokyo Olympics as the top seed at 130kg.

FULL PREVIEW