Heavyweight (>80 kilograms), Men

Defending Olympic champion Russia’s Vladislav Larin initially qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), but the International Olympic Committee did not declare him neutral and he was not invited to the Games. The World champions from 2022 and 2023 were Carlos Sansores from Mexico and Cheick Sallah Cissé from the Ivory Coast. The latter won the welterweight class at the 2016 Olympics. Neither of the two former World champions, however, managed to reach the final.

The gold medal match was between two athletes born in 2003. Iran’s Arian Salimi won gold by beating Britain’s Caden Cunningham. Cuba’s Rafael Alba and Cheick Sallah Cissé claimed bronze. In a stunning display of skill and determination, the 21-year-old Cunningham secured a place in the final by toppling three seasoned Olympic medalists in a row. Cunningham began by overcoming Niger’s Razak Alfaga, the Rio 2016 silver medalist, in the round of 16. Then, in the quarter-final, he dispatched Tokyo bronze medalist Rafael Alba, and in the semi Cunningham beat Cissé, known as the “Man of Rio” for securing Ivory Coast’s first-ever Olympic gold medal.