Weekly FIVE! September 10, 2018

Monday, September 10, 2018 - 11:47 By Eric Olanowski

Taking a look at Russia's World Championship team and Hancocks throw heard around the world. Also reviewing Poland Open results and next weeks Junior World Championship schedule.

1. Russia’s World Team Set After Poland Open
Four Russian wrestlers headed to Warsaw, Poland with hopes of punching their ticket to Budapest, Hungary, but only two left with a spot on the Russian World Team.

In the 61kg semifinals, Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) beat Magomedrasul IDRISOV (RUS), 2-1 to claim the World Team spot.

In the finals, Rashidov shutout Kuat AMIRTAYEV (KAZ), 5-0 to claim the Poland Open gold medal.

Rashidov, the 2017 world runner-up will represent Russia for the second time on the senior-level and for the sixth time overall.

At 65kg, Akhmed CHAKAEV (RUS) won the ticket to Budapest after European runner-up Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS) missed weight.

Chakaev wrestled out the tournament and took first place after Vladimer KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) injury defaulted out of the gold-medal bout.

Russia’s World Team
57kg - Z. UGUEV
61kg – G. RASHIDOV
65kg - A. CHAKAEV
70kg – M. GAZIMAGOMEDOV
74kg - Z. SIDAKOV
79kg - A. GADZHIMAGOMEDOV
86kg - D. KURUGLIEV
92kg – B. TSAKULOV
97kg - A. SADULAEV
125kg – A. KHIZRIEV

2. Hancock Sticks Four-time World and Olympic Champion ALEKSANYAN
Tracy HANCOCK (USA) had the most impressive win of his career in the Poland Open semifinals when he stuck four-time world and Olympic champion, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM).

Hancock, who is wrestling in his first individual international competition since taking tenth place at the U23 World Championships went big in the opening 20 seconds of the semifinal bout and threw the six-time world and Olympic medalist to his back for the fall.

Hancock went on to score the 7-0 shutout victory over Bulgaria’s Nikolay BAYRYAKOV (BUL) in the 97kg gold-medal bout.

3. Suchkov defeats Chamzio, Wins #Korkin2018 Gold
Nikita SUCHKOV (RUS), the Russian Nationals bronze medalist defeated current World No. 1 and two-time world champion, Frank CHAMIZO (ITA), 5-3, claiming the 74kg Dmitri Korkin gold medal.

Suchkov, who finished behind Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) and Khetik TSBABOLOV (RUS) at Russian Nationals won the Dmitri Korkin for the second year in a row.

RESULTS
57kg
GOLD - Aylar TYUTRIN (RUS) df. Parviz IBRAGIMOV (AZE), 4-1

61kg
GOLD - Akhmednabi GVARZATILOV (AZE) df. TUVSHINTULGA (MGL), 8-4

65kg
Viktor RASSADIN (RUS) df. TULGA (MGL), 4-2

70kg
GOLD - Evgani ZHERBAEV (RUS) df. BYAMBADORJ Bat-Erdene (MGL), 8-2

74kg
GOLD - Nikita SUCHKOV (RUS) df. Frank CHAMIZO (ITA), 5-3

79kg
GOLD - Kakhaber KHUBEZHTY (RUS) df. Jumber KYELASHVILI (GEO), 14-4

86kg
GOLD - Ahmad BAZRIGHOLEI (IRI) df. Arsenali MUSALALIEV (RUS), 4-3

92kg
GOLD - Artur NAIFONOV (RUS) df. Anzor URISHEV (RUS), 3-3

97kg
GOLD - NURMAGOMED GADZHIEV (AZE) df. ULZISAIKHAN Batsul (MGL), 10-0

125kg
GOLD - Komeil GHASEMI (IRI) df. ZOLBOO (MGL), 2-0

China's RONG Ningning won her fourth gold medal of the year at the Poland Open. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne)

4.Rong Wins Second Ranking Series Gold Medal
The final women's wrestling Ranking Series event of the year wrapped up last weekend and China’s RONG Ningning continued her 2018 hot streak and remained undefeated on the year, winning the 57kg gold medal.

Rong’s win in Warsaw was her second Ranking Series gold medal of the year. She also won the China Open. In addition to her two Ranking Series championships, Rong claimed gold medals at the Ivan Yargin and Asian Championships, while also going undefeated at the World Cup.

In the 57kg finals, Rong was pitted against Norway’s ninth-ranked Grace BULLEN. Trailing 4-0, the Chinese star went on a 10-0 run and picked up the fall and won her fourth gold medal of the year.

Women’s Wrestling
50kg
GOLD - Mariya STADNIK (AZE) df. Ilona SEMKIV (UKR), 13-2

53kg
GOLD - Nanami IRIE (JPN) df. Katarzyna KRAWCZYK (POL), 2-2

55kg
GOLD - Roksana ZASINA (POL) df. Tetyana KIT (UKR), 6-2

57kg
GOLD - Ningning RONG (CHN) df. Grace Jacob BULLEN (NOR), via fall

59kg
GOLD - Svetlana LIPATOVA (RUS) df. Marwa AMRI (TUN), 3-2

62kg
GOLD - Yuliia TKACH OSTAPCHUK (UKR) df. Malin Johanna MATTSSON (SWE), 2-1

65kg
GOLD - Danielle LAPPAGE (CAN) df. Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN), 3-2

72kg
GOLD - Agnieszka Jadwiga WIESZCZEK-KORDUS (POL) df. Kunming WANG (CHN), via fall

68kg
GOLD - Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR) df. Dalma CANEVA (ITA), 16-5

76kg
GOLD - Erica WIEBE (CAN) df. Aline FOCKEN (GER), 7-0

Click HERE for the full recap

Kamal BEY (USA) and Akzol MAHMUDOV (KGZ) after their epic 2017 finals match-up. (Photo by Marion Stein)

5. Junior World Championships Are One Week Away
One week from today, the Junior World Championships will be underway in Trnava, Slovakia.

Returning Greco-Roman world champions Kamal BEY (USA), Kerem KAMAL (TUR), and Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI) kick off the World Championships on Monday, September 17.

Reigning women's wrestling world champions, Sae NANJO (JPN) and Khanum VELIEVA (RUS), along with reigning senior-level world champion, Yui SUSAKI (JPN) take the mat on Wednesday, September 19.

Daton FIX (USA) and Gable STEVESON (USA), the duo of American freestyle returning champions will close out the 2018 World Championships beginning on Friday, September 21.

Click HERE for the full schedule

World Championship Lineups
Freestyle Lineups
Greco-Roman Lineups
Women's Wrestling Lineups

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday!

2. Happy Monday, wrestling fans. Have a great week. ?: @mokkdiussh1

3. Great match and amazing action all day in Astana!! @unitedworldgrappling ?? -

4. Superman [wrestling version] ? Супермен [борцовская версия] ? ? @krakatauf #wrestling #superman #борьба #дети

5. Viktor LEBEDEV (RUS) / @lebedev57 and Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) / @frankchamizo92 in Yakutsk, Russia ?? before the Dmitry Korkin (September 6-8). How many world titles are there between these two? (Lebedev is not wrestling)?: @byastin_news .

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024: Lopez confident in his quest for fifth Olympic gold

Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 06:14 By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS (July 21) -- In the history of the Olympic Games, only one athlete has won the gold medals five consecutive times: Ireen Wüst. At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Dutch speed skater completed the milestone and etched her name into the history books when she won the 1,500m race.

No Summer Olympian has ever won gold medals in the same individual event five consecutive times. No wrestler has ever won five gold medals. All that could change in Paris. And the man sniffing at the record is Mijain LOPEZ (CUB).

The man they fondly call ‘Gigante de Herradura’ and ‘El Terrible’ currently holds the record of winning the same individual Olympic event four times along with swim legend Michael Phelps, track hero Carl Lewis, the American discus throw hero Al Oerter, the sailor from Denmark Paul Elvstrom and Kaori ICHO (JPN) who, like Lopez, has four gold medals.

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

Born on August 20, 1982, the super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler made his first appearance at the Olympics in 2004. He was accompanied in the contingent by his elder brother Michel, a boxer (his other older sibling, Misael, was a rower). Michel won a bronze medal in the super-heavyweight division in Athens, a medal that continued Cuba’s historic dominance in boxing.

Lopez observed everything quietly at his maiden Games and when he returned to the biggest stage of all, in Beijing four years later, he would take the field by storm. The 6-foot-5-inch tall wrestler won a gold and repeated that feat in 2012, then in 2016 and the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“I feel like it is a dream,” Lopez said. “I believe that it's a goal that I have had throughout my career. I have won four gold medals. I believe winning an Olympic gold medal is hard. So winning four and five is exceptional.”

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) defends his gold medal at 2012 London Olympic Games (Photo: United World Wrestling / Martin Gabor)

His stranglehold in the super heavyweight division at the Olympics has played side-by-side with his dominance at the World Championships – where he has five titles and three silver medals – and the nine Pan American Championships crowns that are to his name.

Lopez last competed at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. After beating Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) in the gold medal bout on superiority, he stayed away from the mat before resurfacing last year to renew his bid for a fifth Olympic gold.

In May 2023, he announced his intention to come back but didn’t straightaway dive into competition mode although he would have been the favorite to defend his Pan American Games title.

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) won his third gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Tony Rotundo)

But due to a personal loss in the weeks leading up to the Pan-Am Games, Lopez opted out of the competition and chose to prepare himself for the bigger battle. He watched from the sidelines as for the first time since 2003, a new face stood on the top of the podium at the Pan-Am Games.

All the while, Lopez had been training with single-minded focus at his bases in Varadero, the scenic beach resort roughly 150 km from Havana, and the Pelado High-Performance Centre in Havana.

In Paris, he might have to fight two battles simultaneously. The first against his aging body — he is 41 years old at the moment. And once he manages that, the Cuban will have to navigate through a tough field, especially since he isn’t among the seeded wrestlers in the 130kg category.

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) won his fourth gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Tony Rotundo)

Lopez has sounded unfazed. If anything, he is itching to better the record of one of his favorite athletes, someone he has called the greatest Olympian of all time – Phelps.

“The preparation is done. I feel in optimal condition and all wrestlers are motivated both in Cuba and internationally. It has been a very important time for me to keep the motivation to get to my sixth Olympic Games and fight for my fifth medal,” he said. “Something I am doing with great focus to be able to show the world that everything you have in mind, and want to achieve, can be achieved. I know it's in my mind, and I believe the possibility of achieving that result is high.”

Lopez wrestles in Paris on August 5 and 6.

Weekly FIVE! September 10, 2018

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Paris 2024: Lopez confident in his quest for fifth Olympic gold