The tough climb against international competition in Greco-Roman wrestling continued Monday for the U.S. men’s team as all three Olympians in the 69kg, 84kg and 120kg divisions failed to medal before the 6,500 in attendance at the ExCel North Arena 2.
120kg U.S. Olympian Dremiel Byers placed 9th after being eliminated when Mijain Lopez of Cuba beat Riza Kayaalp in the semifinals. Kayaalp defeated Byers in the second round. Byers would’ve needed him to reach the finals here to give Byers an opportunity to compete in repechage.
The ‘Flying Squirrel’ Ellis Coleman lost to Bulgaria’s Ivo Angelov in the first round. This is his first Olympic games.
84kg representative Chas Betts lost to Cuba’s Pablo Shorey Hernandez in the second round. He was eventually eliminated when Hernandez was pinned in the quarterfinals by Poland’s Damian Janikowski.
The U.S. is now 4-6 in Greco-Roman competition heading into Tuesday’s final day of competition.
With respect to mixed martial arts, there is some overlap. Damian Janikowski, Poland’s bronze medalist at 84kg, has competed in amateur MMA bouts and has stated intentions of moving to professional competition.
Egypt’s 84kg silver medalist Karam Gaber fought in one MMA bout after winning gold at the 2004 Olympic games. He lost by KO to Kazuyuki Fujita at K-1 PREMIUM 2004 DYNAMITE!! in the first round.
Full medal results below:
60 kg
Gold: Omid Noroozi (Iran)
Silver: Revaz Lashki (Georgia)
Bronze: Zaur Kuramagomedov (Russia)
Bronze: Ryutaro Matsumoto (Japan)
84 kg
Gold: Alan Khugaev (Russia)
Silver: Karam Gaber (Egypt)
Bronze: Danjel Gajiyev (Kazakhstan)
Bronze: Damian Janikowski (Poland)
120 kg
Gold: Mijian Lopez (Cuba)
Silver: Heiki Nabi (Estonia)
Bronze: Riza Kayaalp (Turkey)
Bronze: Johan Euren (Sweden)