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Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Recaps: 22 July (Day 3)

Greco-Roman Wrestling / 52kg, Session 6

PAULSON Earns Bye to Semifinals at 52kg:

Brandon PAULSON of Minneapolis, Minnesota, only 22 and competing in his first World-level tournament, earned a bye and became one of two Americans to reach the semifinals Monday evening at the Georgia World Congress Center.

PAULSON had scored a pair of victories in the Monday morning session. He will face Yordan ANEV of Bulgaria in the semifinals Tuesday morning. Also advancing to the semifinals was Armen NAZARYAN of Armenia, who upset defending World Champion Samvel DANIELYAN of Russia 3-0.

Semifinals: Armen NAZARYAN (ARM) vs. Lazaro RIVAS SCULL (CUB); Yordan ANEV (BUL) vs. Brandon PAULSON (USA)

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Greco-Roman Wrestling / 62kg

MAREN DELIS Continues Cuban Upset Parade at 62kg:

Juan Luis MAREN DELIS of Cuba defeated four-time World Champion Sergey MARTYNOV of Russia 5-4 in overtime to advance to the semifinals at 62kg. MAREN DELIS broke a 4-4 tie with a lift and takedown 26 seconds into overtime.

MARTYNOV has won the World Championships the past four non-Olympic years - 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1995. However, an Olympic gold medal again will elude his grasp. MARTYNOV was the silver medalist at Barcelona in 1992.

MAREN DELIS's Cuban teammate, Lazaro RIVAS SCULL, had defeated two-time Olympic gold medalist Jon RONNINGEN of Norway at 52kg Monday morning.

David ZUNIGA of New Brighton, Minnesota, about to try for an overtime victory in his second-round match, lost 3-1 to Ivan IVANOV of Bulgaria when ZUNIGA was called for his second false start of the match with 11 seconds remaining in overtime. ZUNIGA later met MARTYNOV in the Pool B consolation round and was eliminated on a 6-6 referee's decision loss.

Semifinals: Wlodzimierz ZAWADZKI (POL) vs. Hryhoriy KAMYSHENKO (UKR); Ivan IVANOV (BUL) vs. Juan MAREN DELIS (CUB)


Greco-Roman Wrestling / 74kg

ISKANRARYAN Still Alive at 74kg:

Mnatsakan ISKANDARYAN of Russia continued his quest for his second straight Olympic gold medal, shutting out KIM Jin-Soo of Korea 4-0 to advance to the semifinals. KIM had beaten 1992 bronze medalist Torbjorn KORNBAKK of Sweden in the first round Monday morning.

Filiberto ASCUY AGUILERA became Cuba's third semifinalist, joining Ukraine as the only nations with three semifinalists in Group B. ASCUY AGUILERA will face ISKANARYAN, whom he beat 12-0 in the bronze-medal match in last year's World Championships.

"It won't be as easy as last time, but I don't see anything in the way of beating him," ASCUY AGUILERA said. "It feels good to be one step from the title match."

Artur DZIHASOV of Ukraine, whose only previous World-level tournament was the 1994 World Cup (in which he earned the gold medal), also advanced.

Semifinals: Filiberto ASCUY AGUILERA (CUB) vs. Mnatsakan ISKANDARYAN (RUS); Artur DZIHASOV (UKR) vs. Marko ASELL (FIN)


Greco-Roman Wrestling / 90kg

Another Gold Medalist Falls at 90kg:

Three 1992 Olympic gold medalists failed to last the first day of competition. Monday evening, Maik BULLMANN of Germany couldn't hold a 2-0 lead and lost 4-2 to Vyacheslav OLEYNYK of Ukraine. BULLMANN, a four-time World-level champion, joined fellow defending gold medalists JON RONNINGEN of Norway (52kg) and Akif MEHMET PIRIM of Turkey (62kg) on the sidelines watching others go for the gold.

OLEYNYK became the third wrestler from Ukraine to reach the semifinals, tying Cuba for the most by any nation in Group B.

Semifinals: Hakki BASAR (TUR) vs. Vyacheslav OLEYNYK (UKR); Jacek FAFINSKI (POL) vs. Iordanis KONSTANTINIDIS (GRE)

Greco-Roman Wrestling / 130kg

KARELIN, GHAFFARI Roll at 130kg:

Alexsandr KARELIN of Russia continued his march toward a possible third straight Olympic gold medal with one difficult match and one which turned out to be much easier Monday evening.

KARELIN was pushed to overtime by Serguei MOUREIKO of Moldova. The match was scoreless until midway through the overtime session. KARELIN was issued a passivity call and MOUREIKO had him put down on the mat. When MOUREIKO slipped off a gut wrench, KARELIN was awarded two points for a counter exposure, the only scoring in his 2-0 victory. KARELIN reached the semifinals by pinning Juha ADOKAS of Finland at 2:43.

AHOKAS had knocked veteran Tomas JOHANSSON of Sweden out of the gold-medal picture with a 2-0 overtime victory in the first round Monday evening.

Siamak GHAFFARI of Colorado Springs, Colorado became the second American to reach the semifinals with a 3-0 victory over Petro KOTOK of Ukraine.

Semifinals: Alexsandr KARELIN (RUS) vs. Panagiotis Poikilidis (GRE); Siamak GHAFFARI (USA) vs. Rene SCHIEKEL (GER)


Session 5


Greco-Roman / 52kg Preliminaries & Pool B

Upsets Happen Early at 52kg: The unexpected became commonplace as the 1992 Olympic gold and silver medalists were upset in back-to-back matches Monday morning at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Jon RONNINGEN of Norway, who won the gold medal in 1988 as well as 1992, lost 5-0 to Lazaro RIVAS SCULL of Cuba. Then Alfred TER-MKRTCHYAN of Germany lost 2-1 in overtime to Khaled FARAJ of Syria. The two met later in the Pool B consolations with TER-MKRTCHYAN winning 9-0.

Brandon PAULSON (USA), competing in his first Olympic Games for the United States, won twice during the session. PAULSON pinned Joel BASALDUA of Peru at 1:37 in the first round and added a 6-1 decision over Igor PETRENKO of Belarus in the second round.

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Greco-Roman / 62kg Preliminaries & Pool B

PIRIM Upset at 62kg: Akif Mehmet PIRIM of Turkey became the second 1992 Olympic gold medalist to lose in the first round. PIRIM lost on a 1-1 referee's decision to Ivan IVANOV of Bulgaria. PIRIM dropped into Pool B and will face Winston SANTOS FUENTES of Venezuela Monday evening, while IVANOV goes against American David ZUNIGA. ZUNIGA, fourth in the 1994 World Championships, held off Ainsley ROBINSON of Canada 3-2.

The 1993 and 1995 World silver medalist, Wlodzimierz ZAWADZKE of Poland, also had to fight off an upset bid by Igor PETRENKO of Bulgaria. Trailing 3-0, ZAWADZKE scored a four-point throw with 20 seconds remaining for a 4-3 victory.

Sergey MARTYNOV of Russia, a four-time World Champion and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist, faces 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Juan MAREN DELIS of Cuba in the second round Monday evening.


Greco-Roman / 74kg Preliminaries & Pool B

Two Medalists Fall at 74kg: Mnatsakan ISKANDRARYAN of Russia, a four-time World Champion and the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, had no trouble advancing to the second round, scoring a 10-0 technical superiority win over Nestor GARCIA of Venezuela at just 2 minutes, 26 seconds of their five-minute match.

Elsewhere in the bracket, however, upsets again stole the headlines. ISKANDARYAN faces KIM Jim-Soo of Korea, who pounded 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Torborn KORNBAKK of Sweden by an 11-0 technical superiority win at 4 minutes, 27 seconds.

Two-time Olympic medalist Jozef TRACZ of Poland also fell in the first round, losing 1-0 in overtime to Tamas BERZICZA of Hungary. TRACZ was the Olympic silver medalist in 1992 and the bronze medalist in 1988.

Two 1995 World Championships medalists met in the first round, with bronze medalist Filiberto ASCUY AGUILERA of Cuba taking an easy 9-1 victory over silver medalist Bakhtiar BAYSEYTOV of Kazakhstan. The next opponent for ASCUY AGUILERA is American Gordy MORGAN, who scored a 10-0 technical superiority victory over Rodolfo HERNANDEZ of Mexico at 3 minutes, 53 seconds.


Greco-Roman, Table A / 90kg

Championship Rematch Possible at 90kg: Maik BULLMANN of Germany, the World Champion from 1989 through 1991 and the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, won a pair of tight decisions to advance to the quarterfinals. BULLMANN beat Mostafa HUSSEIN of Egypt 3-0 in the first round and added a 1-0 overtime decision over Jacek FAFINSKI of Poland in the second round.

Hakki BASAR of Turkey also advanced over a pair of tough opponents. In the first round, BASAR beat two-time World Champion and 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Gogi KOGUASHVILI of Russia 6-1. He then blanked Goran KASUM of Yugoslavia, scoring the winning point at 5 minutes, 44 seconds of overtime.


Greco-Roman, Table A / 130kg

KARELIN, JOHANSSON to Meet Next at 130kg: Two of the weight's big stars, two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Aleksandr KARELIN of Russia and seven-time World and Olympic medalist Tomas JOHANSSON of Sweden, will meet in the second round Monday evening.

KARELIN has never lost a match in international competition and has beaten JOHANSSON at least seven times over that span, including the finals of the 1990 World Championships and the Olympic gold-medal match in 1992. Both won their first-round matches easily -- KARELIN by technical superiority, 10-0 over Omrane AYARI of Tunisia at 3 minutes, 11 seconds, and JOHNANSSON by an 8-0 decision over Rachid BELAZIZ of Madagascar.

Siamak GHAFFARI (USA), the 1995 World Championships bronze medalist, also advanced by beating Shermukhammad KUZIYEV of Uzbekistan 7-1.

"I definitely feel pressure to win," KARELIN said. "So far, it hasn't made a difference. My motivation is that I want to win for Russia."


This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.


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Olympic Factoid
The Mother Nature was kind to Olympic athletes and spectators. The average high temperature during the Games was 89 degrees with an average low of 72 degrees. Highest temperature registered (20 July) - 99 degrees. Lowest high temperature registered is 79 degrees (28 July).