#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 Olympics Freestyle Entries

Thursday, July 11, 2024 - 06:51 By United World Wrestling Press

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PARIS (July 11) -- The Olympic Games in Paris will see 97 Freestyle wrestlers competing for six gold medals. None of the Tokyo Olympic champions are entered which guarantees history books will be rewritten in Paris.

But former Olympic champions Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), Taha AKGUL (TUR) and Kyle SNYDER (USA) are looking for their second titles at the Games. The United States and Azerbaijan are the only countries to qualify all six weight classes for Paris 2024. Apart from the regular 96 competitors, Iman MAHDAVI (EOR) will be part of the Olympic Refugee Team at 74kg, making it a 17-man bracket.

Apart from the aforementioned Olympic champions, former Olympic medalists entered include Rei HIGUCHI (JPN), Haji ALIYEV (AZE), Frank CHAMIZO (ITA), Kyle DAKE (USA), Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) are entered.

PARIS 2024 SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 NEWS | PARIS 2024 WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | PARIS 2024 GRECO-ROMAN ENTRIES

57kg
Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE)
Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
Gamal MOHAMED (EGY)
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS)
AMAN (IND)
Rei HIGUCHI (JPN)
Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ)
Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ)
Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD)
Darian CRUZ (PUR)
Stevan MICIC (SRB)
Spencer LEE (USA)
Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
Georgii OKOROKOV (AUS)
Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
Alejandro VALDES TOBIER (CUB)
Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
Austin GOMEZ (MEX)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM)
Zain RETHERFORD (USA)

74kg
Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (AIN)
Chermen VALIEV (ALB)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Feng LU (CHN)
Geandry GARZON CABALLERO (CUB)
Amr HUSSEN (EGY)
Iman MAHDAVI (EOR)
Bacar NDUM (GBS)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Yones EMAMI (IRI)
Frank CHAMIZO (ITA)
Daichi TAKATANI (JPN)
Hetik CABALOV (SRB)
Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
Viktor RASSADIN (TJK)
Kyle DAKE (USA)
Razambek JAMALOV (UZB)
Anthony MONTERO CHIRINOS (VEN)

86kg
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Jayden LAWRENCE (AUS)
Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL)
Alexander MOORE (CAN)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)
Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)
Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
Bat Erdene BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
Ethan RAMOS (PUR)
Myles AMINE (SMR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)
Aaaron BROOKS (USA)
Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)

97kg
Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
Awusayiman HABILA (CHN)
Arturo SILOT TORRES (CUB)
Luis PEREZ SOSA (DOM)
Mostafa ELDERS (EGY)
Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
Erik THIELE (GER)
Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)
Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)
Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA)
Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Kyle SNYDER (USA)

125kg
Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
Amarveer DHESI (CAN)
Zhiwei DENG (CHN)
Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY)
Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)
Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ)
Aiaal LAZAREV (KGZ)
Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL)
Ashton MUTUWA (NGR)
Robert BARAN (POL)
Jonovan SMITH (PUR)
Taha AKGUL (TUR)
Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR)
Mason PARRIS (USA)

Note:
* Shamil MAMEDOV (AIN) was initially entered at 65kg but he subsequently withdrew. He is replaced by Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)

* Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU was entered at 74kg

* Serbia replaced Ali ARSALAN (SRB) with Hetik CABALOV (SRB) at 74kg

* Ukraine replaced Yurii IDZINSKYI (UKR) with Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR) at 125kg

#UWWAwards

UWW History Makers of 2025: Kougioumtsidis, Reasco, Sultangali

Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:29 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 22) -- United World Wrestling has announced the History Makers of the Year 2025. The performance of these three wrestlers transcended competition and produced a once-in-a-generation accomplishment.

Freestyle’s History Maker 2025: Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)

If there’s one nation that’s draped in sports tradition, it’s Greece, but surprisingly enough, the nation had never produced a male wrestling world champion.

Prior to 2025, wrestlers from Greece were 0-3 in gold-medal matches and had not reached a world finals since 1991. Then came 23-year-old Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS who stunned the world by defeating Levi HAINES (USA) 3-2 in the 79kg final to become his nation’s first-ever world champion.

Up until Kougioumtsidis' victory, Georgios ATHANASSIADIS (GRE) lost both of his world finals matches and Iraklis DESKOULIDIS (GRE) lost the final in 1991. The lone Greek woman to ever step to the top of the medal podium at the World Championships was Sofia POUMPOURIDOU (GRE), who won the women's 51kg gold on home soil in 2002.

"I'm very lucky that I am Greek," Kougioumtsidis said. "So I feel like I made all Greeks proud. I am Greek and I love my country." He continued, saying, “I'm the first male [from Greece] who won a gold medal at the World Championships. It's my dream come true. I think this year is a good achievement. I achieved my goal."

Women’s Wrestling History Maker: Genesis REASCO (ECU)

Reasco made history by becoming Ecuador's first-ever world champion, which came two years following Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) silver-medal finish at the 2023 World Championships where she still become the Ecuador's first-ever world medalist.

Reasco reached the pinnacle of the sport with a 4-2 victory in the 76kg final over two-time world medalist Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ), which came one match removed from knocking off Paris bronze medalist Milaimy MARIN (CUB) in the semifinals.

"I went in, gave my all, and it worked," Reasco said. "That’s how the gold medal was achieved, because honestly, I have a lot of respect for all my opponents. They gave everything out there on the mat, and they were really good matches -- both yesterday’s and today’s. Everything was very tough, very close."

Greco-Roman’s History Maker: Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)

Sultangali ended a 26-year Greco-Roman drought, giving Kazakhstan their first Greco world champion since 1999 with a very quick victory over Uzbek youngster Alisher GANIEV (UZB) in the 60kg finals at the World Championships.

Sultangali, who won two world bronze medals between 2018 and 2022, only needed 1:07 to cap off masterful first-period 9-0 win over Asian runner-up GANIEV (UZB).

"I didn’t plan to win the final match so easily and quickly," Sultangali said. "But it happened. Today is a historic day for our country because the last gold medal for Kazakhstan came in 1999, 26 years ago," said Sultangali, "I am happy that my country is happy."