Day 3 Olympic Recap

66 kg: Just like in 2014, Davor Stefanek of Serbia will once again be the king of 66 kg. The 2015 bronze medalist upended 2015 World champion Frank Staebler of Germany in the quarterfinals and went on to beat Migran Arutyunyan of Armenia in the finals to earn an Olympic gold medal. After wrestling at the world level for 13 years and participating in two Olympics, Stefanek was finally able to reach the pinnacle of the sport. In the first bronze medal match, Shmagi Bolkvadze of Georgia edged Tomohiro Inoue of Japan by a score of 1-0. This was Bolkvadze's first World or Olympic medal in his very young career. In the second bronze medal match, 2015 World champion at 71 kg Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan blasted 2013 World champion Hansu Ryu of South Korea by a score of 8-0. By overcoming a tough draw, Chunayev earned his first Olympic medal to go with his two World medals and at the age of 25. The sky is the limit for this young grappler.

98 kg: From the first hand shake to the final whistle, there was no doubt that Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia is the class of 98 kg. The two-time defending World champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist relinquished only two points throughout the entire tournament and defeated surprise finalist Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera of Cuba to win the title. Just like most of the champions at these Olympics, Aleksanyan is young, talented, and not done winning World/Olympic titles yet. In the first bronze medal match, Ghasem Rezaei of Iran defeated Carl Fredrik Schoen of Sweden by a score of 4-4. Despite being upset in the quarterfinals, the defending Olympic champion battled his way back to bring home his second Olympic medal. In the other bronze medal match, Cenk Ildem of Turkey downed Alin Alexuc Ciurariu of Romania by a score of 4-0. Going into the tournament, Ildem had two World medals in his trophy case and will be adding an Olympic one to his collection.