Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤98 kg), Men

World-ranked number one, Russian Nikita Melnikov missed making the 2016 Olympic team, when the Russian Olympic Trials were won by Islam Magomedov despite having a broken finger. That put Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, two-time World champion (2014, 2015) and three-time European champion (2012, 2013, 2014) as the favourite. With two other World champions in the field, including twice World champion Cenk İldem and 2011 champion Elis Guri of Bulgaria, anything could happen.

But it was the 2015 Pan American Games gold medalist, Yasmany Lugo of Cuba, who Aleksanyan beat 3-0 to win the heavyweight title, and Armenia’s first gold medal at the Rio 2016 Games (and their second all-time since independence in 1991). He is now the first Armenian athlete in any sport to win multiple Olympic medals. Aleksanyan did not give up a single point in his final three bouts from the quarter-finals onward and won back-to-back matches by technical fall in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, beating world number six Turkey’s Cenk İldem in the semi-finals. Ildem went on to win the first bronze after winning his medal match with Romania’s Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu by a score of 4-0.

The other bronze medal was won by the 2012 Olympic champion, Iran’s Ghasem Rezaei, who trailed Sweden’s Carl Schön 4-0 at the end of the first period. When the wrestlers went into par-terre in the second period, Rezaei was able to turn Schoen twice to tie the match and take the advantage on criteria. Nicknamed the “White Bear” Aleksanyan is one of the most renowned Armenian athletes of the 21st century. During the medal ceremony, he wore a shirt with an image of Robert Abajyan—a junior sergeant killed in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh/NKR) who posthumously received the “Hero of Artsakh” award in April 2016 at the age of 19.