Turkey's Riza Kayaalp defeated Cuba's Mijain Lopez in the World finals in September (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)While U.S. wrestling fans can express their disappointment that 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs won't be carrying the flag for Team USA at the Opening Ceremonies in Rio this evening, they can take pride in knowing that at least three other nations will have wrestlers as flag bearers: Haiti's Asnage Castelly, Turkey's Riza Kayaalp, and Cuba's Mijain Lopez.
NBCOlympics.com reported Thursday that Kayaalp and Lopez, both world champions in Greco-Roman, will each carry his nation's flag at the Parade of Nations at the 2016 Rio Olympics Friday night. InterMat had reported last weekend that Castelly, a coach at Massachusetts' Springfield Technical Community College, would be the flag bearer for the Haitian contingent.
Castelly, competing in men's freestyle in Rio, will be the first wrestler to take to the mats at the Olympics for the Caribbean island nation of Haiti. By contrast, Kayaalp and Lopez both have considerable experience wrestling at the Olympics in the superheavyweight class, now 130 kilograms/286.5 pounds for 2016.
This will be Kayaalp's third Olympic Games. He competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, then won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Games. It will be the first time the 26-year-old Kayaalp has served as Turkey's flag bearer.
This will be the third consecutive Olympics at which Lopez, a two-time Olympic champion, has carried the flag for Cuba.
In addition to his Olympic experience, Kayaalp has earned medals at World Championships, claiming gold at the 2011 Worlds in Istanbul, and bronze medals at the 2009 and 2010 Worlds.
Lopez, 33, won gold medals at 120 kilograms/264 pounds at the Olympics in 2008 and 2012. The Cuban has tallied a total of eight medals at World Championships -- five gold, and three silver -- going back to 2005.
Kayaalp and Lopez have some history with each other on the mat. Kayaalp lost to Lopez in the 120-kilo semifinals at the last Olympics, having to settle for bronze while Lopez eventually claimed gold. The year before at the 2011 Worlds, Kayaalp beat Lopez for the gold medal. Kayaalp also notched a win over Lopez this past September in the gold-medal match at the World Championships in Las Vegas.
Jaime Espinal of Puerto Rico (Photo/Martin Gabor)Update: Gary Abbott of TheMat.com has posted an article listing a total of eight wrestlers who were flag bearers at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympics. In addition to Castelly, Lopez and Kayaalp, here are the other wrestlers who carried the flag for their home nations:
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now