Myles Amine at the 2019 World Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)As of today, we under 50 days from the start of wrestling at the Olympic Games. Over the next 50 days, we'll bring you one profile per day of a decorated international contender. Make sure you get to know the wrestlers that Team USA will compete against in Tokyo.
6/20/21 - Sofia Mattsson (Sweden)
6/19/21 - Hassan Yazdani Charati (Iran)
6/18/21 - Tamas Lorincz (Hungary)
6/17/21 - Takuro Otoguro (Japan)
6/16/21 - Elizbar Odikadze (Georgia)
6/15/21 - Koumba Larroque (France)
6/14/21 - Haji Aliyev (Azerbaijan)
6/13/21 - Ningning Rong (China)
6/12/21 - Bajrang Punia (India)
6/11/21 - Frank Staebler (Germany)
6/10/21 - Geno Petriashvili (Georgia)
A perennial contender with three All-American honors at the 174 pound weight classes for the University of Michigan, #12 Myles Amine (SMR) made a huge decision at the end of the 2019 NCAA season to compete internationally for San Marino at 86 KG and qualify the small Mediterranean country for the Tokyo Olympics. Amine's biggest freestyle credential up until that point had been a runner-up finish at the 63 KG Cadet Pan-Am championships. With elite folkstyle wins over prestigious competitors the likes of Ethan Ramos, Brian Realbuto, Daniel Lewis and Bo Jordan, Amine was a proven commodity still and his international freestyle debut was much anticipated.
The Stats
#12 Myles Amine (SMR)- 2019 European Games bronze medalist, 2019 world's 5th, 2020 European championships runner-up, 2021 European Championships bronze medalist, 2021 Ziolkowski bronze medalist
Key Wins: #16 Zbigniew Baranowski ( 2019 European Games), Alexander Gostiev (2019 European Games), #13 Sosuke Takatani (2019 world's), #18 Ali Shabanov (2019 World's), Rasul Tikhaev ( 2020 Euros), #19 Sebastian Jezierzanski (2021 Ziolkowski bronze medal match), Stefan Reichmuth (2021 Ziolkowski quarterfinals)
Key Losses: #4 Dauren Kurugliev (2019 European Games), #8 Vladislav Valiev ( 2019 European championships), Fatih Erdin ( 2020 Matteo Pellicone invitational tournament), #2 Hassan Yazdani Charati ( 2019 world championships), #3 Artur Naifonov ( 2019 world championships bronze medal match, 2020 European championships finals, 2021 European championships quarterfinals), #18 Ali Shabanov (2019 European championships), #10 Zahid Valencia (2021 Ziolkowsi semifinals), Trent Hidlay (2020 RTC Cup)
2019-2021
Myles Amine would make his international debut for San Marino at the 2019 European championships. In his debut, Amine would take a win over 2015 World bronze medalist #17 Sandro Aminashvili (GEO), but would fall to powerhouse world medalists #8 Vladislav Valiev (RUS) and #18 Ali Shabanov (BLR). Already having faced three world medalists at the European championships and coming away with a victory over one and fought tooth and nail with the other two, Amine proved he had a strong learning curve and would be someone to keep an eye on moving forward even with a ninth-place finish in the bracket.
The European Games in Baku would be another chance where Amine would be thrown in against the best and have to prove himself. Right out of the gate, Amine faced off against #4 Dauren Kurugliev, a powerhouse Russian who had taken European gold in 2017, won Russian Nationals and finished 5th at the World Championships in 2018. Kurugliev would be too much for Amine and handed him a 6-0 loss that put him in repechage with the powerful Lezgin making the finals. In his first repechage match, Amine would face off against the reigning 92 KG European runner-up #16 Zbigniew Baranowski (POL), a perennial contender with great leg attacks and finishing ability, but susceptible to scrambling and poor in-match decisions. Against the difficult style of Baranowski, Amine was able to overcome the talented Pole 4-3 to move onto the bronze medal match opposite three-time European championships runner-up Alexander Gostiev of Azerbaijan. Against the veteran's defense and positioning, Amine would pull away and win a 3-3 criteria match and the first medal for San Marino.
Amine had proven capable of beating the middle tier of 86 KG and hanging in with the best and carved out a spot for himself as an up-and-coming talent to watch at the World Championships in Nursultan, Kazakhstan, who, if given a good draw, had a threat of medaling. But that view of Myles Amine would be shattered when he toed the line in Kazakhstan. Two world medalists, a Pan-Am champion and a European Games bronze medalist, stood in Amine's way just to reach the semifinals to qualify San Marino for the Olympics. On paper, Amine would be an early trip home, too much too soon. But Amine absolutely went on a tear through the bracket, beating the likes of four-time world medalist #18 Ali Shabanov (BLR), 2014 74 KG world silver medalist #13 Sosuke Takatani (JPN), 2019 Pan-Am Games champion Yurieski Torreblanca (CUB) and 2019 European Games bronze medalist Akhmed Dudarov (GER) to qualify San Marino for the Olympics by making the semifinals. Two-time World/Olympic champion #2 Hassan Yazdani Charati (IRI) was too much for Amine and beat him 11-0 to put Amine against 21-year-old phenom #3 Artur Naifonov, a 2017 Alans and 2018 European champion who had staked his claim as the consensus #3 behind world champions #1 David Taylor (USA) and Yazdani Charati (IRI). A game Amine hung in with Naifonov, but it would be the North-Ossetian talent that would come away victorious with world bronze after a 6-0 win.
Myles would only take an Olympic redshirt for the 2019-2020 season and compete at the Matteo Pellicone Memorial and the European Championships before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now a consensus top 10 talent at 86 KG, Amine would fall in an early-round matchup against the powerful, but inconsistent 2018 world runner-up Fatih Erdin of Turkey. In his next match, Erdin was dominated and tech falled by two-time NCAA champion Zahid Valencia of the United States and Amine was eliminated from the competition. Amine would have a better showing at the European championships netting a silver medal finish with a 4-0 loss to Naifonov (RUS). Amine would finish 2020 competing at the RTC Cup, beating Nate Jackson (USA) and falling to 2019 Junior world bronze medalist Trent Hidlay (USA).
The #1 seed going into this year's 197 LB NCAA championships after a BIG 10 title, Amine lost in the semifinals to AJ Ferrari (ITA/OSU) and finished with his fourth All-American status by taking third. Amine's return to international competition would be in April at the European Championships, where he netted his second continental medal taking bronze with a win over International Ukrainian Tournament champion #19 Sebastian Jezierzanski (POL). A bronze medal at the Ziolkowski memorial after a loss to US Olympic Trials bronze medalist Valencia (USA) would be Amine's final competition before the Tokyo Olympics in August.
Myles Amine is in a very interesting position going into the Olympics. Effectively behind the trio #1 David Taylor (USA), #2 Hassan Yazdani Charati (IRI) and #3 Artur Naifonov, Amine is the fourth highest-ranked competitor in the field at #12. Even if he is to run into one of the three on his side of the bracket, Amine still has a very strong chance at coming back and wrestling for bronze against the field and if his bracket is good enough, he could make the finals. Either way, I think there's a really good chance for Amine to be able to win San Marino's first medal in Olympic wrestling.
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