Olympic Games preview in Greco-Roman at 130 kg/286 lbs.
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
| Robby Smith in the bronze medal match of the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. Photo: Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com. |
Two behemoths stand above the rest as we venture into the 130 kg/286 lbs. Greco-Roman bracket for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The ageless Cuban Mijain Lopez will look to win his third Olympic gold medal competing in his fourth Olympic Games this August. Lopez picked up the gold in Beijing and London to go along with his bevy of five World titles and three World silver medals. All in all, Lopez has won 10 World and Olympic medals since 2006.
Lopez’s largest challenge will be from fellow legend in the making and current World No. 1 Riza Kayaalp of Turkey who himself owns seven World and Olympic medals. The Turk won the World title last year to go along with his World gold in 2011 where he beat Lopez in the finals on both occasions. In 2012, Kayaalp won bronze at the Olympic Games.
Kayaalp has two World University titles and two Junior World titles to go along with his long list of Senior level accolades.
Lopez and Kayaalp have met in the World finals three times with Lopez winning in 2014 and Kayaalp getting the edge in 2015 and 2011. Kayaalp defeated Lopez in the gold medal match last year, 1-0.
Two-time World champion and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Heiki Nabi of Estonia is seeking redemption after finishing in eighth place at the World Championships in 2015. World No. 12 Nabi fell to Lopez in the finals of the London Olympics.
Russia will undoubtedly play at factor at 130 kg with two-time Junior World champion Sergey Semenov expected to take the mat in Rio. World No. 6 Semenov took top prize at Russia Nationals by topping eight-time World and Olympic medalist and current World No. 7 Bilyal Makhov.
Makhov, a three-time World champion in freestyle, picked up bronze in Greco-Roman at the previous two World Championships. He pulled off the miraculous double medal at the 2015 Worlds by earning bronze in both Greco-Roman and freestyle. He is expected to be the Russian heavyweight representative in freestyle in Rio.
Ukraine’s World No. 3 Aleksandr Chernetski won World bronze opposite Makhov in Las Vegas last year. He posted a silver medal performance at the 2016 European Championships, losing to Kayaalp in the finals. Rio will mark Chernetski’s second Olympic games.
Kazakhstan boasts a strong medal contender with three-time World bronze medalist and 2013 World University Games silver medalist Nurmakhan Tinaliyev making a return trip to the Olympic Games. He won World bronze in 2010, 2011 and 2013, but has failed to reach the medal stand the past two years. Tinaliyev is ranked No. 9 in the World.
2012 Olympic bronze medalist Johan Euren of Sweden has also gone two years without bringing home a World medal. He finished with World bronze in 2013, but has since been snuffed on the big stage. Euren comes in at No. 5 in the UWW World Rankings.
Fan favorite American Robby Smith is looking to continue the momentum he gained after a fifth place finish at the World Championships last year. Smith’s two losses in Las Vegas came at the hands of Lopez and Makhov, with the Makhov bout being praised as one of the best matches of the entire competition.
Smith has been a member of every U.S. World Team since 2013. He also represented the U.S. at three Junior World Championships.
Also finishing in fifth place at the Worlds last year was World No. 15 Sabahi Shariati of Azerbaijan who picked up an impressive gold medal this season at the Golden Grand Prix Finals, placing ahead of contenders Tinaliyev, Nabi, Chernetski and Smith.
Two wrestlers with potential to shake things up at 130 kg are U23 European gold medalist Iakobi Kajaia of Georgia and Asian Championships gold medalist Amir Ghasemi of Iran.
Muminjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan and Edwin Caraballo Cabrera of Venezuela round out the list of past Olympians entered in the 130 kg field for Rio.
PROJECTED OLYMPIC GAMES FIELD
Australia - Ivan Popov
Azerbaijan - Sabahi Shariati (World No. 15)
Brazil - Antoine Abou Jaoude
China - Qiang Meng (World No. 13)
Cuba - Mijain Lopez (World No. 2)
Egypt - Mohamed Abdellatif
Estonia - Heiki Nabi (World No. 12)
Georgia - Iakobi Kajaia (World No. 11)
Germany - Eduard Popp (World No. 4)
Iran - Amir Ghasemi (World No. 19)
Kazakhstan - Nurmakhan Tinaliyev (World No. 9)
Kyrgyzstan - Murat Ramonov (World No. 16)
Russia – Sergey Semenov (World No. 6)
Sweden - Johan Euren (World No. 5)
Turkey - Riza Kayaalp (World No. 1)
Ukraine - Aleksandr Chernetski (World No. 3)
United States – Robby Smith
Uzbekistan - Muminjon Abdullaev (World No. 18)
Venezuela - Edwin Caraballo Cabrera
RECENT WORLD AND OLYMPIC RESULTS
2015 World Championships
130 kg/286 lbs. – Gold – Riza Kayaalp (Turkey); Silver – Mijain Lopez (Cuba); Bronze – Oleksandr Chernetski (Ukraine); Bronze – Bilyal Makhov (Russia); 5th – Sabahi Shariati (Azerbaijan); 5th – Robby Smith (United States); 7th – Murat Ramonov (Kyrgyzstan); 8th – Heiki Nabi (Estonia); 9th – Erwin Caraballo Cabrera (Venezuela); 10th – Yongmin Kim (Korea)
2014 World Championships
130 kg/286 lbs. – Gold – Mijian Lopez (Cuba); Silver – Riza Kayaalp (Turkey); Bronze – Bilyal Makhov (Russia); Bronze – Heiki Nabi (Estonia); 5th – Eduard Popp (Germany); 5th – Lyubomir Dimitrov (Bulgaria); 7th – Johan Euren (Sweden); 8th – Behram Mehdizadeh (Iran); 9th – Nurmakhan Tinaliyev (Kazakhstan); 10th – Iakovi Kajaia (Georgia)
2013 World Championships
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Gold - Heiki Nabi (Estonia); Silver - Riza Kayaalp (Turkey); Bronze – Nurmakhan Tinalyev (Kazakhstan); Bronze - Johan Euren (Sweden); 5th - Mihaly Deak-Bardos (Hungary); 5th - Robby Smith (USA); 7th - Eduard Popp (Germany); 8th - Radhouane Chebbi (Tunisia); 9th – Ramon Garcia (Dominican Republic); 10th - Sergei Andrusik (Russia)
2012 Olympic Games
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Gold - Mijian Lopez (Cuba); Silver - Heiki Nabi (Estonia); Bronze - Riza Kayaalp (Turkey); Bronze - Johan Euren (Sweden); 5th - Guram Pherselidze (Georgia); 5th - Iosif Chugoshvili (Belarus); 7th - Darzi Babanjanzadeh (Iran); 8th - Yuri Patrikeev (Armenia); 9th - Dremiel Byers (USA); 10th - Lukasz Banak (Poland)
2011 World Championships
120 kg/264.4 lbs. – Gold - Riza Kayaalp (Turkey); Silver - Mijain Lopez (Cuba); Bronze - Nurmakhan Tinaliyev (Kazakhstan); Bronze - Bashir Asgari Babanjazadeh Darzi (Iran); 5th - Mihály Deak-Bardos (Hungary); 5th - Lukasz Banak (Poland); 7th - Xenofon Koutsioumpas (Greece); 8th - Ivan Ivanov (Bulgaria); 9th - Yuri Patrikeev (Armenia); 10th - Aleksandr Anuchin (Russia)
2010 World Championships
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Gold – Mijain Lopez (Cuba); Silver – Youri Patrikeev (Armenia); Bronze – Riza Kayaalp (Turkey); Bronze – Nurmakhan Tinaliev (Kazakhstan); 5th – Dremiel Byers (United States); 5th – Marek Svec (Czech Republic); 7th – Khassan Baroev (Russia); 8th – Lukasz Banak (Poland); 9th – Johan Magnus Euren (Sweden); 10th – Guram Pherselidze (Georgia)
2009 World Championships
120 kg/264.5 lbs. - Gold - Mijain Lopez (Cuba); Silver - Dremiel Byers (USA); Bronze - Jalmar Sjoeberg (Sweden); Bronze - Riza Kayaalp (Turkey); 5th - Nico Schmidt (Germany); 5th - Ioseb Chugoshvili (Belarus); 7th - Aleksandr Anunchin (Russia); 8th – Mihaly Deak-Bardos (Hungary); 9th - Rafael Barreno (Venezuela); 10th - Marek Svec (Czech Republic)
