Cuban Mijain Lopez Nunez earns historic third Olympic gold medal in Rio

Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba) won his third Olympic gold medal on Monday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com.

RIO DE JANEIRO – History was made Monday evening on the second day of Greco-Roman competition at the Olympic Games as Mijain Lopez Nunez of Cuba became the ninth wrestler in history to win three Olympic gold medals.


Entering Rio a 10-time World and Olympic medalist and No. 2 in the World, Lopez was on a mission to avenge his loss in the World finals to Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp, a task he achieved with apparent ease.


Mere moments into the 130 kg gold medal match Lopez struck with a four-point chest lock to take a 4-0 lead. Tack on a step out and caution point, and the scoreboard read Lopez six, Kayaalp zero at match end.


Lopez now owns an astounding five World titles and three World silver medals to go along with his three Olympic gold’s.


This is the seventh Olympic gold medal the island nation of Cuba has won in Greco-Roman wrestling. Ismael Borrero Molina took gold at 59 kg for Cuba on Sunday.


Winning the gold at 85 kg was Russian David Chakvetadze, who upended defending World champion Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine, 9-2. Entering the Olympics ranked No. 3 in the World, Chakvetadze unleased an assault of par terre attacks on World No. 1 Beleniuk in the second period to pull away for the win.


Chakvetadze’s path to the gold medal was menacing, with his all five of his wins coming over wrestlers ranked in the top nine in the world. Moreover, he had to beat World No. 7 Aleksej Mishin, who was a 2004 Olympic champion, just to make the Russian lineup.


Russia now owns two Greco-Roman gold medals from the Olympics with Chakvetadze joining 75 kg champion Roman Vlasov atop the podium. It is the 12th Olympic gold medal earned by Russia in Greco-Roman since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.


In the battle back for bronze at 130 kg, World No. 15 Sabah Shariati of Azerbaijan and World No. 6 Sergey Semenov of Russia triumphed.


Shariati won Azerbaijan the nation’s sixth Olympic medal in Greco-Roman by pinning World No. 4 Eduard Popp of Germany in 1:47. Shariati graces the Olympic podium this year after finishing one win away from bronze at the 2015 World Championships.


Two-time Junior World champion Semenov excelled in his debut on the Olympic stage. Capitalizing on a monstrous five-point throw, the Russian downed two-time World champion Heiki Nabi of Estonia for the bronze, 6-0.


Claiming bronze medals at 85 kg were World No. 13 Javid Hamzatau of Belarus and World No. 6 Denis Kudla of Germany.


Hamzatau won Belarus it seventh Olympic medal in Greco-Roman by topping World No. 14 Nikolai Bayrakov of Bulgaria, 4-1. He adds Olympic bronze to his World bronze medal from 2013. Belarus has never won an Olympic gold medal.


Kudla narrowly escaped with a 3-3 criteria win over two-time World bronze medalist Viktor Lorincz of Hungary in the bronze medal match. The German youngster was a Junior World silver medalist two years ago and won a Cadet World title in 2011. His win gave Germany its 32nd overall Olympic medal in Greco-Roman.


Americans Ben Provisor and Robby Smith both finished in 12th place in their respective brackets. Provisor lost his opening match to 2015 World silver medalist Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan, 6-3, and Smith was downed by bronze winner Shariati, 8-2, in his only match of the day.


Greco-Roman competition will resume at 9 a.m. (ET) Tuesday morning with the 66 kg and 98 kg tournaments.


Every match from the 2016 Olympic Games can be viewed live courtesy of NBC at NBCOlympics.com. Complete brackets and match-by-match results can be found at unitedworldwrestling.org.

2016 OLYMPIC GAMES

Aug 14-21 at Carioca Arena 2 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Final Results
85 kg/187 lbs.

Gold – David Chakvetadze (Russia)

Silver – Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine)

Bronze – Javid Hamzatau (Belarus)

Bronze – Denis Kudla (Germany)

5th – Nikolai Bayrakov (Bulgaria)

5th – Viktor Lorincz (Hungary)

7th – Habibollah Akhlaghi (Iran)

8th – Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan)

9th – Robert Kobliashvili (Georgia)

10th – Amer Hrustanovic (Austria)


Medal Matches

Gold – David Chakvetadze (Russia) dec. Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine), 9-2

Bronze – Javid Hamzatau (Belarus) dec. Nikolai Bayrakov (Bulgaria), 4-1

Bronze – Denis Kudla (Germany) dec. Viktor Lorincz (Hungary), 3-3

130 kg/286 lbs.

Gold – Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba)

Silver – Riza Kayaalp (Turkey)

Bronze – Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Sergey Semenov (Russia)

5th – Eduard Popp (Germany)

5th – Heiki Nabi (Estonia)

7th – Iakobi Kajaia (Georgia)

8th – Johan Euren (Sweden)

9th – Oleksandr Chernetski (Ukraine)

10th – Bashir Babajanzadehdarzi (Iran)


Medal Matches

Gold – Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba) dec. Riza Kayaalp (Turkey), 6-0

Bronze – Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan) fall Eduard Popp (Germany), 1:47

Bronze – Sergey Semenov (Russia) dec. Heiki Nabi (Estonia), 6-0

U.S. Greco-Roman Results

85 kg/187 lbs. – Ben Provisor, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), 12th

LOSS Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan), 6-3


130 kg/286 lbs. – Robby Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), 12th

LOSS Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan), 8-2