#panam2018

Cuba and USA Sweep Freestyle Gold Medals in Lima

Monday, May 7, 2018 - 02:22 By Taylor Miller

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LIMA (May 6) – The top of the podium was flooded with wrestlers clad in red, white and blue all night as USA produced five men’s freestyle Pan American champions, while Cuba claimed the other three gold medals in the final night of competition at the 2018 Pan American Championships.

The two nations went head-to-head in four of the night’s finals, trading gold-medal wins to split them 2-2.

2012 Olympic bronze medalist and three-time World medalist Livan LOPEZ AZCUY (CUBA) gave his nation a win in the first Cuba/USA final of the night with a convincing 6-1 victory against Nazar KULCHYTSKYY (USA) in the 74 kg gold-medal match.

The win marked Lopez’s third Pan American Championships title. His last one came in 2016.

At 86 kg, Yarygin champion David TAYLOR (USA) outlasted two-time Pan Am champion Yudenny TORREBLANCA (CUB) in a 3-2 win. Torreblanca struck first with a takedown but it was not enough as Taylor scored a takedown of his own to close out the first period. A second-period step out sealed the win for the American.

Three-time World medalist Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB) put up a decisive win against Kyven GADSON (USA) to take the crown at 92 kg. His 8-2 victory gave Salas Perez his fifth Pan American Championships title.

Closing out the night in the 125 kg final was 2017 World bronze medalist Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (USA), who shut out two-time Pan Am silver medalist Yudenny ALPAJON ESTEVEZ (CUB) with a 9-0 performance.

Other U.S. wrestlers winning gold included Logan STIEBER (USA) at 65 kg and James GREEN (USA) at 70 kg.

2016 World champion Stieber claimed top prize at 65 kg, wrapping up a 10-0 tech fall early in the first period over home crowd favorite Abel HERRERA PASTOR (PER). Stieber improved upon his third-place finish from last year.

For his efforts, Stieber was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.

Green, a 2017 World silver medalist and 2015 World bronze medalist, captured his second-consecutive Pan Am gold at 70 kg. In Sunday night’s finals, Green dominated Hernan GUZMAN IPUZ (COL) with a 10-0 victory. It was his second tech fall over the Colombian as the two met earlier in the day in pool action.

Joseph COLON (USA) also won a gold medal for the U.S. defeating Joshua Bodnarchuk of Canada in their second meeting of the day with a 10-0 technical fall.

Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) won the first gold medal of the night for Cuba with first-period tech fall over Oscar TIGREROS URBANO (COL) in the 57 kg final. It was the Cuban’s second tech fall of day.

His day was highlighted by a 7-4 win over 2017 World silver medalist Thomas GILMAN (USA).

The USA ran away with the team title, scoring 230 points, which was 100 points more than runner-up Cuba. Taking home bronze in the team race was Canada with 123 points.

MEN’S FREESTYLE RESULTS
57 kg
GOLD - Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) df. Oscar Eduardo TIGREROS URBANO (COL), 10-0
BRONZE - Thomas Patrick GILMAN (USA) df. Pedro Jesus MEJIAS RODRIGUEZ (VEN), 11-4
BRONZE – Juan Rubelin RAMIREZ BELTRE (DOM) win by forfeit Victor Manuel BARRON CARDENAS (MEX)

61 kg
GOLD - Joseph Daniel COLON (USA) df. Joshua BODNARCHUK (CAN), 10-0
BRONZE - Juan Antonio RODRIGUEZ JOVEL (ESA) df. Alexis OLVERA MAGALLANES (MEX), 8-6

65 kg
GOLD - Logan Jeffery STIEBER (USA) df. Abel Gerald HERRERA PASTOR (PER), 10-0
BRONZE - Alejandro Enrique VALDES TOBIER (CUB) df. Michael Stanley David ASSELSTINE (CAN), 10-0
BRONZE – Albaro RUDESINDO CAMACHO (DOM) df. Freddy Leonardo VERA FAJARDO (ECU), 10-0

70 kg
GOLD - James Malcolm GREEN (USA) df. Hernan Dario GUZMAN IPUZ (COL), 10-0
BRONZE - Alexander CHAVES (CAN) df. Marcos PEREIRA DE OLIVEIRA JUNIOR (BRA), 10-0

74 kg
GOLD - Livan LOPEZ AZCUY (CUB) df. Nazar KULCHYTSKYY (USA), 6-1
BRONZE - Nestor Joaquin TAFUR BARRIOS (COL) dec. Jevon BALFOUR (CAN), 8-6
BRONZE – Jorge Ivan LLANO (ARG) df. Carlos Eduardo ROMERO MILLAQUEO (CHI), 9-1

86 kg
GOLD - David Morris TAYLOR III (USA) df. Yurieski TORREBLANCA QUERALTA (CUB), 3-2
BRONZE - Pool Edinson AMBROCIO GREIFO (PER) df. Julio Rafael RODRIGUEZ ROMERO (DOM), 10-0
BRONZE – Pedro Francisco CEBALLOS FUENTES (VEN) win by forfeit Carlos Arturo IZQUIERDO MENDEZ (COL)

97 kg
GOLD - Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB) df. Kyven Ross GADSON (USA), 8-2
BRONZE - Jordan STEEN (CAN) df. Charles Zachary MERRILL (PUR), 11-1
BRONZE – Jose Daniel DIAZ ROBERTTI (VEN) df. Miguel Javier SANCHEZ GERALDO (MEX), 11-0

125 kg
GOLD - Nicholas Edward GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) df. Yudenny ALPAJON ESTEVEZ (CUB), 9-0
BRONZE - Catriel Pehuen MURIEL (ARG) df. Carlos Jose FELIX GARCIA (DOM), 13-3
BRONZE - Korey JARVIS (CAN) df. Jose Noel ERAZO HENRIQUEZ (ESA), 10-0

#WrestleParis

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

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

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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)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)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)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)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.