Since 2004, Greece had not celebrated a wrestling medal, but we finally managed to achieve it, albeit in a dramatic manner.
When Dauren Kourugliev received his Greek passport last February (after having already won two European medals for Greece with a temporary residence permit), experts in the sport were confident that the wrestler, born in Dagestan, Russia, would bring home a medal in the 86kg category at the Paris Olympics.
In the Olympic tournament draw, he was unlucky as he faced Iran’s Hassan Yazdanicharati in the quarterfinals, a match that could have easily been the final of the 86kg category.
“I apologize to the Greeks; I will give everything for the bronze,” he promised on Thursday afternoon, hoping that the Iranian would reach the final, which he did. And Kourugliev kept his promise.
In the morning, in his first repechage match, he demolished Australian Jayden Alexander Lawrence with a 10-0 victory, and the final obstacle was Myles Nazem Amine from San Marino (though of American origin).
Dauren, who had never competed in an Olympic tournament for Russia (as he kept facing Artur Naimonov), couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
He entered the match with full concentration, avoided his opponent’s attacks in the first few seconds, and a minute before the end of the first period, he scored his first two points.
Amine didn’t seem to have a way to threaten him, and when the score became 4-0 in the last minute, it seemed all over. However, 7 seconds before the end, the score became 4-2, and with the referee’s whistle, Amine made one last attack, threatening to equalize, but Dauren barely held on. The referee awarded one point to the San Marino athlete but reviewed the video to confirm two points for Amine and one for Kourugliev, resulting in a final score of 5-4 and Greece’s 8th medal at the Paris Olympics.
“I thank the Prime Minister for helping me obtain Greek citizenship.”
“I didn’t come here for the bronze. My goal was gold, but God gave me this medal. I thank Greece for giving me the chance to compete in the Olympic Games, especially Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Minister of Sports Yiannis Vroutsis, and the president of the federation Kostas Thanos, who believed in me and helped me get the Greek passport,” Kourugliev said in his first statements and added:
“I was 100% sure I would win, and when he attacked, I was ready… I held on and was sure I wouldn’t give him the points he was seeking.”
The bronze medalist urged the Greek youth “to come to the gyms and turn to sports… I started young too, and you see where I reached. I want to thank my coaches because, without them, I wouldn’t have gotten here, and also all the Greeks who sent us their love. I promise that we will bring you more medals and joy in the future.”
Summary of Greece’s 12 Wrestling Medals in the Olympic Games:
GOLD
- Stelios Migiakis: 1980 Greco-Roman (62 kg)
SILVER
- Georgios Tsitas: 1896 Greco-Roman (Open Category)
- Petros Galaktopoulos: 1972 Greco-Roman (68-74 kg)
- Dimitris Thanopoulos: 1984 Greco-Roman (82 kg)
BRONZE
- Stefanos Christopoulos: 1896 Greco-Roman (Open Category)
- Petros Galaktopoulos: 1968 Greco-Roman (63-70 kg)
- Georgios Hatziioannidis: 1980 Freestyle (62 kg)
- Babis Holidis: 1984 Greco-Roman (57 kg)
- Babis Holidis: 1988 Greco-Roman (57 kg)
- Amiran Kardanov: 2000 Freestyle (54 kg)
- Artiom Kiouregian: 2004 Greco-Roman (55 kg)
- Dauren Kourugliev: 2024 Freestyle (86 kg)
