Russia won its second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 85 kg (middleweight) Greco-Roman wrestling competition Monday, with the winner taking gold despite having to wrestle in the qualifying round.
Davit Chakvetadze took gold with a 9-2 victory over Ukraine’s Zhan Beleniuk in the gold medal match, doing so by scoring the final nine points. Chakvetadze took silver at last year’s World Cup after winning the 85 kg competition at the European championships. Chakvetadze is now 3-0 over the last year against Beleniuk in major tournament finals, as he won their gold medal matches at both the World Cup and the Golden Grand Prix in 2015.
Chakvetadze is the second Russian to take gold in Greco-Roman wrestling in as many days, with Roman Vlasov doing so in the welterweight division Sunday. The bronze medal matches were won by Javid Hamzatau of Belarus and Denis Kudla of Germany, with Kudla winning Germany’s first medal in the middleweight (Greco-Roman) division since Thomas Zander took silver in Atlanta in 1996.
American Ben Provisor lost in the Round of 16, finishing 12th in the competition.