Four-time Olympic champion Mijain Loopez (Photo courtesy of UWW)
Today marked the first medals that were handed out in wrestling at the 2020 Olympics. As each weight class has concluded we will have a wrap-up for each, which includes results and some notable facts related to the weight.
Past Articles
60 kg Men's Greco-Roman
76 kg Women's Freestyle
Qualification Results
Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) over Mantas Knystautas (Lithuania) 5-1
Eduard Popp (Germany) over Eduard Soghomonyan (Brazil) 2-0
Mijain Lopez (Cuba) over Alin Alexuc Ciurariu (Romania) 9-0
Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) over Minseok Kim (South Korea) 6-0
Muminjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) over Artur Vititin (Estonia) 8-0
Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (Chile) over Amine Guennichi (Tunisia) 5-1
Iakobi Kajaia (Georgia) over Elias Kuosmanen (Finland) Fall
Sergey Semenov (ROC) over Abdellatif Mohamed (Egypt) 3-1
Quarterfinal Results
Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) over Eduard Popp (Germany) 6-2
Mijain Lopez (Cuba) over Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) 8-0
Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (Chile) over Muminjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) 2-0
Iakobi Kajaia (Georgia) over Sergy Semenov (ROC) 3-1
Semifinal Results
Mijain Lopez (Cuba) over Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) 2-0
Iakobi Kajaia (Georgia) over Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (Chile) 1-1
Repechage Results
Sergey Semenov (ROC) over Elias Kuosmanen (Finland) 11-0
Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) over Alin Alexuc Ciurariu (Romania) 5-1
Bronze Medal Matches
Sergey Semenov (ROC) over Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (Chile) 1-1
Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) over Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) 7-2
Gold Medal Match
Mijain Lopez (Cuba) over Iakobi Kajaia (Georgia) 5-0
Notes:
Cody Goodwin put together an excellent article with plenty of Mijain Lopez-related stats
Lopez earned his ninth career World/Olympic gold medal
Lopez also earned his 12th career World/Olympic medal
Lopez and Kayaalp have met in each of the last three Olympic Games. In 2012 and 2020, Lopez prevailed in the semifinals. In 2016, they wrestled in the finals.
The last time Lopez surrendered a single point at the Olympic Games was in 2008.
This was the first time that Lopez's opponent in the gold medal match was not a returning world champion. In 2008, Khasan Baroev was already an Olympic champion and two-time world champ. 2012 saw him down Heiki Nabi who was a 2006 world champion. Kayaalp was a two-time world champion at the time of their 2016 meeting.
A Cuban has medaled at the World/Olympic Championships every year since 2014. Lopez did so in 2014-16 and 2020, while Oscar Pino Hines grabbed bronze from 2017-19.
Olympic silver medalist Kajaia became a two-time World/Olympic medalist.
Kajaia is also the first Georgian heavyweight to ever earn a World/Olympic medal in Greco-Roman.
Bronze medalist Sergey Semenov became a three-time World/Olympic medalist.
Fifth-place finisher Yasmani Acosta Fernandez lost both of his bouts by the score 1-1 each time.
For the third time since the 2016 Olympics, Eduard Popp ran into Kayaalp in a World/Olympic Championship. Each time he has taken a loss.
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