Islam-Beka Albiev won Russia's second Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal in as many matches in Beijing Tuesday, defeating Vitaliy Rahimov of Azerbaijan in the 60kg final.
The 19-year-old Albiev is the second-youngest wrestling gold medalist in Olympic history.
Albiev, who was eighth in last year's World Championships, swept the two periods of the best-of-three match, winning the first 2-0 and the second 4-0.
Islam-Beka Albiev of Russia celebrates after beating Vitaliy Rahimov of Azerbaijan in the men's Greco-Roman 60kg wrestling match August 12 2008. [Agencies] |
The bronze medals were won by Ruslan Tiumenbaev of Kyrgyzstan and Nurbakyt Tengizbayev of Kazakhstan.
Russia is strong in freestyle wrestling, winning six of seven weights in last year's World Championships, but it is becoming a power in Greco Roman wrestling, too. The disciplines differ in that holds below the legs aren't permitted in Greco and wrestlers cannot use their legs to initiate holds.
55kg wrestling
Nazyr Mankiev of Russia won the first wrestling gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, sweeping the first two periods of the best-of-three match to defeat Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan in the Greco-Roman 55kg final Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Bayramov lifted Mankiev for three points to take an early lead in the first period but was immediately turned by Mankiev, who scored the final four points of the period.
The two tied at two in the second, with two-time European champion Bayramov again scoring first, but the 23-year-old Mankiev won because he scored last.
With IOC President Jacques Rogge watching from a seat midway up the grandstands, Mankiev was a surprise gold medalist after beating the heavily favored Hamid Soryan -- Iran's three-time defending world champion -- in the quarterfinals.
The bronze medals were won by Roman Amoyan of Armenia and South Korea's Park Eun-chul. Park also defeated Soryan, who had a 131-31 scoring edge while dominating each of the last three World Championships.
Mankiev, last year's world bronze medalist, didn't defeat Soryan in any of their three periods -- each finished tied, but Soryan won every tiebreaker.
Soryan learned nothing is guaranteed in a one-day tournament in which a bad draw, an inability to properly cut weight or an injury can abruptly end four years of preparation. Soryan was the biggest favorite in any of the seven Greco-Roman weight classes. "Soryan is one of the best wrestlers in the world, but Mankiev is stronger,"' Russian coach Michail Aleksandrovich Gamzin said.