Artiom Kiouregkian
Bronze medal, August 25, 2004, Artiom Kiouregkian cat. 55kg. Athens 2004
As in Sydney in 2000, so in Athens in 2004, Greek wrestling won a bronze medal. This time in Greco-Roman wrestling and in the 55kg category, thanks to Artiom Kiouregkian. The petite wrestler has a successful record with four wins and one loss. In his first three fights he did not give a single point to his opponent. He defeated Nyblom (Denmark) 3-0, Kalilov (Kyrgyzstan) 4-0 and Sheng (China) 3-0 to secure first place in his group. In the semi-finals he played, almost from the beginning, with an injury problem, against the Russian Gaidar Mamedaliyev, where he lost with 1:3 points. In the 3rd place competition he fought with tremendous fighting spirit and strength and surprised his opponent, Ukrainian Alexei Vakulenko. The final score of 6:1 proves the obvious superiority of the Greek champion.
They said..
“I wanted the gold medal, that was my goal from the beginning but my injury in the semi-final left me out of the final. That’s where I think I lost the gold medal. However, I can’t say, the bronze medal is also fine, I’m happy. I know that I also gave my soul to these games.”
August 25, 2004
