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
Vazgen Tevanyan (Armenia) over Goderdzi Dzebiashvili (Georgia) 11-0
Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) over Alejandro Valdes Tobier (Cuba) 5-0
Kotaro Kiyooka (Japan) over Maxim Sacultan (Moldova) 10-0
Sebastian Rivera (Puerto Rico) over Georgii Okorokov (Australia) 12-2
Iszmail Musukaev (Hungary) over Ernazar Akmataliev (Kyrgyzstan) 11-0
Haji Aliyev (Azerbaijan) over Austin Gomez (Mexico) 7-0
Islam Dudaev (Albania) over Gaku Akazawa (Samoa) 10-0
Rahman Amouzad (Iran) over Zain Retherford (USA) 8-0
Quarterfinals
Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) over Vazgen Tevanyan (Armenia) 7-5
Kotaro Kiyooka (Japan) over Sebastian Rivera (Puerto Rico) 8-6
Iszmail Musukaev (Hungary) over Haji Aliyev (Azerbaijan) 10-3
Rahman Amouzad (Iran) over Islam Dudaev (Albania) 11-0
Semifinals
Kotaro Kiyooka (Japan) over Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) 5-1
Rahman Amouzad (Iran) over Iszmail Musukaev (Hungary) 10-0
Repechage
Sebastian Rivera (Puerto Rico) over Maxim Sacultan (Moldova) 15-4
Islam Dudaev (Albania) over Zain Retherford (USA) FFT
Bronze Medal Matches
Sebastian Rivera (Puerto Rico) over Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) 10-9
Islam Dudaev (Albania) over Iszmail Musukaev (Hungary) 13-2
Gold Medal Match
Kotaro Kiyooka (Japan) over Rahman Amouzad (Iran) 10-3
Notes:
Kotaro Kiyooka’s Olympic gold medal came in his first appearance at a Senior World/Olympic-level event.
Just a year ago, Kiyooka finished ninth at the U23 World Championships.
With Kiyooka’s gold medal, it marked the first time that Japan would capture multiple gold medals in men’s freestyle in a single Olympic Games since 1988 when Takashi Kobayashi (48 kg) and Mitsuru Sato (52 kg) both earned gold medals.
This was the second straight Olympic Games where a Japanese wrestler came away with gold at this weight class. In 2020, Takuto Otoguro won the gold medal. It’s also three out of four as Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu won the 66 kg gold medal in 2012.
Kiyooka’s gold medal gave Japan 8 in the 2024 Olympic Games across all three styles - which is remarkable for 18 weight classes (2 in men’s freestyle, 2 in Greco-Roman, and 4 in women’s freestyle).
Rahman Amouzad made the finals after outscoring the opposition 29-0 across three matches. Two of his wins came against 2023 world champions, Zain Retherford (70 kg) and Iszmail Musukaev (65 kg).
Despite all of their international success, this is the first Olympic medal in this weight range (62-68 kg) for Iran since 1992 when Asgari Mohammadian was a silver medalist (to John Smith).
Amouzad is now a two-time world/Olympic medalist with his silver medal to go along with a 2022 world championship.
A bronze medal from Islam Dudaev gave Albania two medals in the 2024 Olympic Games in men’s freestyle. Previously they had none.
The bronze was Dudaev’s first World/Olympic medal.
To get on the podium, Dudaev won a 13-12 shootout against 2023 world champion Musukaev.
That Dudaev/Musukaev matchup pitted a pair of former Russian wrestlers against each other for a medal.
Sebastian Rivera became only the second wrestler representing Puerto Rico to medal. In 2012, Jaime Espinal was a silver medalist at 84 kg.
Rivera is now a two-time World/Olympic medalist after taking silver at the 2023 World Championships.
Rivera was the only wrestler from the 2023 world podium to make the 2024 Olympic medal stand.
Retherford, Rivera, and Austin Gomez were NCAA All-Americans in the field at 65 kg.
Though they were in the same Olympic bracket, the three accounted for All-American honors at four different collegiate weight classes. Rivera (125/133/141), Retherford (141/149), Gomez (149).
For the most part, there was a youth movement on the podium at this weight. The finalists were 22 (Amouzad) and 23 (Kiyooka), and Rivera is 25. The oldest was Dudaev who is 29.
Despite the depth at this weight, only one seeded wrestler fell in the opening round - #5 Maxim Sacultan (Moldova). He was defeated by the eventual champion, Kiyooka.
This weight class featured three first round matches between past world medalists. Tulga Ochir/Valdes Tobier, Musukaev/Akmataliev, Amouzad/Retherford. All three matches ended with the losing wrestler being shut out.
Despite the number of great wrestlers at this weight class, the first round matches were generally all blowouts. A 5-0 win by Tulga Ochir over Valdes Tobier accounted for the “closest” bout of the opening round.
After the Olympic Games, Haji Aliyev announced his retirement. He’ll finish as a two-time Olympic medalist (silver/20, bronze/16) and a three-time world champion.
Aliyev and Valdes Tobier were the only wrestlers in this bracket competing in their third Olympic Games.
For the second straight Olympic Games, Musukaev fell in a bronze medal matchup.
photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com
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