The 2024 Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday. Since there was so much action going on for the last week, you're sure to have missed something along the way. We'll go through each weight class and have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight.
Past weight classes
Round of 16
Amir Zare (Iran) over Aiaal Lazarev (Kyrgyzstan) 5-0
Amarveer Dhesi (Canada) over Zhiwei Deng (China) 2-1
Daniel Ligeti (Hungary) over Ashton Mutuwa (Nigeria) 11-0
Taha Akgul (Turkey) over Jonovan Smith (Puerto Rico) 10-0
Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur (Mongolia) over Mason Parris (USA) 10-5
Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) over Diaaeldin Abdelmottaleb (Egypt) 4-0
Robert Baran (Poland) over Yusup Batirmurzaev (Kazakhstan) 4-1
Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi (Ukraine) 11-0
Quarterfinals
Amir Zare (Iran) over Amarveer Dhesi (Canada) 10-0
Taha Akgul (Turkey) over Daniel Ligeti (Hungary) 10-0
Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) over Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur (Mongolia) 12-2
Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Robert Baran (Poland) 9-2
Semifinals
Amir Zare (Iran) over Taha Akgul (Turkey) 2-1
Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) 7-0
Repechage
Aiaal Lazarev (Kyrgyzstan) over Amarveer Dhesi (Canada) 5-0
Robert Baran (Poland) over Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi (Ukraine) 3-0
Bronze Medal Matches
Taha Akgul (Turkey) over Aiaal Lazarev (Kyrgyzstan) 7-0
Giorgi Meshvildishvili (Azerbaijan) over Robert Baran (Poland) 9-3
Gold Medal Matches
Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) over Amir Zare (Iran) 10-9
Notes:
Geno Petriashvili finally got his elusive Olympic gold medal. Petriashvili has previously earned silver and bronze medals at the last two Olympic Games.
With his gold, Petriashvili now has 11 World/Olympic medals - three world titles to go along with his recent Olympic gold medal.
Petriashvili has earned a medal at every World/Olympic event since 2015.
Petriashvili’s first world title came in 2017….also in Paris.
The Olympic final was a rematch of the 2023 World finals won by Amir Zare, 11-0.
This year’s matchup between Petriashvili and Zare featured the highest scoring gold medal matchup out of any style in 2024. 19 points (10-9).
Zare is now a two-time Olympic medalist. He was a bronze medalist in Tokyo.
Zare has won five World/Olympic medals by the age of 23.
Iran has had a heavyweight earn a medal in men’s freestyle at the last four Olympic Games. 2012 (silver) and 2016 (silver) by Komeil Ghasemi.
After winning his bronze medal match Taha Akgul left his shoes at the center of the mat signifying his retirement. Akgul had an incredible career that now includes three Olympic medals - including a gold medal in 2016.
Akgul finished with 11 World/Olympic medals and three world titles to go along with the Olympic gold.
His bronze medal made Akgul the oldest medalist in men’s freestyle (33 years old) in the Paris Olympics.
We had the unusual sight of double retirement as Akgul’s bronze medal opponent, Aiaal Lazarev also left his shoes on the mat. Lazarev never won a World/Olympic medal, but participated in three Olympic Games and seven Senior World Championships.
One of the semifinals matches pitted Georgian, Petriashvili, against an opponent that previously had competed for Georgia, but now represents Azerbaijan in Giorgi Meshvildishvili.
Meshvildishvili won his first world/Olympic medal when he got the bronze.
This was the only men’s freestyle weight class that had three medalists that were in their 30’s. All but Zare.
There was one matchup in this bracket that pitted past Senior World medalists against each other in the opening round - when Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur defeated Mason Parris.
Additionally, Zhiwei Deng and Yusup Batirmurzaev, were past world medalists who fell in the first round.
Parris (#6) and Deng (#8) were the only seeded wrestlers that were knocked off in their first match.
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