The work is done, the tournaments have all been held, and the results are logged. With the conclusion of the World Olympic Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey this past weekend, the fields for each of the six weight categories at the Paris Olympics have been set.
The usage of the word “fields” might be misleading, of course. As mentioned in the just-released editorial on this platform with regards to Olympic qualifying, it is countries, not athletes, who qualify Olympic weights. In many cases, the wrestlers who are responsible for securing berths for their weight classes do wind up competing in the Olympics; but it is not unanimous since each national federation orchestrates their own selection processes to determine whom they may send to the Games. In the United States, for example, Spencer Woods (87 kg, Army/WCAP), Alan Vera (97 kg, NYAC), and Cohlton Schultz (130 kg, Sunkist) secured their respective weight categories for Team USA at the Pan-Am Qualifier in February but all three were defeated in the Olympic Team Trials finals last month.
96 athletes will compete in Greco-Roman at the ’24 Paris Games. The qualifying system for this Olympiad began with the ’23 World Championships (September) and resumed earlier this year with the four continental qualifiers (African/Oceania, Pan-American, European, and Asian). The World OG Qualifier in Turkey represented the last chance nations had to achieve Olympic quotas.
Below is the list of nations qualified for each weight class at the ’24 Olympic Games including the athletes who were responsible along with the event in which it occurred as well as their placing. Note that both the ’23 World Championships and World OG Qualifier both had “wrestle-off” matches. At the Worlds, the two 5th-place wrestlers in each bracket competed for the 5th Olympic ticket available for that weight class; at the World Qualifier, it was the two bronze medalists in each category who met to decide the third and final Olympic berth. These placings will be listed as 5th and 3rd, respectively.
Additionally, semifinals at the five qualifiers in ’24 were called “Olympic Qualification” rounds. Finals (gold medal matches) were not contested in these events. In the interest of uniformity, the athletes who qualified via an “Olympic Qualification” round are listed as having placed first.
Although Russian and Belarusian wrestlers are currently not permitted to officially represent their countries, they are listed below with their International Olympic Committee country codes for the sake of specificity. In competition, their affiliations are AIN (Individual Neutral Athlete).
2024 Olympic Games Qualifiers Per Weight
60 KG
Algeria (ALG) — Abdelkarim Fergat (1st, African/Oceania)
Azerbaijan (AZE) — Murad Mammadov (1st, World OG Qualifier)
China (CHN) — Liguo Cao (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Cuba (CUB) — Kevin de Armas Rodriguez (1st, Pan-American)
Egypt (EGY) — Moamen Mohamed (1st, African/Oceania)
Iran (IRI) — Mehdi Mohsen Nejad (5th, ’23 World Championships)
Japan (JPN) — Kenichiro Fumita (silver, ’23 World Championships)
Kazakhstan (KAZ) — Aidos Sultangali (1st, Asian)
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) — Zholaman Sharshenbekov (gold, ’23 World Championships)
Moldova (MDA) — Victor Ciobanu (1st, European)
North Korea (PRK) — Ri Se-Ung (1st, Asian)
Russia (RUS) — Saydk Lalaev (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Serbia (SRB) — Georgij Tibilov (3rd, World OG Qualifier)
Turkey (TUR) — Enes Basar (1st, European)
Uzbekistan (UZB) — Islomjon Bakhramov (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Venezuela (VEN) — Raiber Rodriguez Orozco (1st, Pan-American)
67 KG
Algeria (ALG) — Ishak Ghaiou (1st, African/Oceania)
Armenia (ARM) — Slavik Galstyan (5th, ’23 World Championships)
Azerbaijan (AZE) — Hasrat Jafarov (silver, ’23 World Championships)
Chile (CHI) — Nestor Almanza Truyol (1st, Pan-American)
Cuba (CUB) — Luis Orta Sanchez (gold, ’23 World Championships)
Ecuador (ECU) — Andres Montano Arroyo (1st, Pan-American)
Egypt (EGY) — Mohamed Elsayed (3rd, World OG Qualifier)
France (FRA) — Mamadassa Sylla (1st, European)
Georgia (GEO) — Ramaz Zoidze (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Iran (IRI) — Mohammedreza Geraei (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Japan (JPN) — Kyotaro Sogabe (1st, Asian)
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) — Amantur Ismailov (1st, Asian)
Moldova (MDA) — Valentin Petic (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Serbia (SRB) — Mate Nemes (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Tunisia (TUN) — Souleymen Nasr (1st, African/Oceania)
Ukraine (UKR) — Parviz Nasibov (1st, European)
77 KG
Algeria (ALG) — Abd Elkrim Ouakali (1st, African/Oceania)
Armenia (ARM) — Malkhas Amoyan (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Azerbaijan (AZE) — Sanan Suleymanov (silver, ’23 World Championships)
Bulgaria (BUL) — Aik Mnatsakanian (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Colombia (COL) — Jair Cuero Munoz (1st, Pan-American)
Cuba (CUB) — Yosvanys Pena Flores (1st, Pan-American)
Egypt (EGY) — Mahmoud Abdelrahman (1st, African/Oceania)
Finland (FIN) — Jonni Sarkkkinen (1st, European)
Hungary (HUN) — Zoltan Levai (3rd, World OG Qualifier)
Iran (IRI) — Amin Kaviyaninejad (1st, Asian)
Japan (JPN) — Nao Kusaka (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Kazakhstan (KAZ) — Demeu Zhadrayev (1st, Asian)
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) — Azkhol Makhmudov (gold, ’23 World Championships)
Russia (RUS) — Sergey Kutuzov (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Turkey (TUR) — Burhan Akbudak (1st, European)
Uzbekistan (UZB) — Aram Vardanyan (5th, ’23 World Championships)
87 KG
Algeria (ALG) — Bachir Sid Azara (1st, African/Oceania)
Azerbaijan (AZE) — Rafiq Huseynov (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Belarus (BLR) — Kiryl Maskevich (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Bulgaria (BUL) — Semen Novikov (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
China (CHN) — Haitao Qian (1st, Asian)
Egypt (EGY) — Mohamed Metwally (1st, African/Oceania)
Hungary (HUN) — David Lonsonczi (gold, ’23 World Championships)
Iran (IRI) — Alireza Mohmadipiani (1st, Asian)
Kazakhstan (KAZ) — Nursaltan Tursynov (5th, ’23 World Championships)
Poland (POL) — Arkadiusz Kulynycz (3rd, World OG Qualifier)
Russia (RUS) — Milad Alirzaev (1st, European)
Serbia (SRB) — Aleksandr Komarov (1st, European)
Turkey (TUR) — Ali Cengiz (gold, ’23 World Championships)
Ukraine (UKR) — Zhan Belenyuk (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
United States of America (USA) — Spencer Woods (1st, Pan-American)
Venezuela (VEN) — Carlos Munoz Jaramillo (1st, Pan-American)
97 KG
Algeria (ALG) — Fadi Rouabah (1st, African/Oceania)
Armenia (ARM) — Artur Aleksanyan (silver, ’23 World Championships)
Belarus (BLR) — Abubakar Khaslakhanau (5th, ’23 World Championships)
Cuba (CUB) — Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (gold, ’23 World Championships)
Czechia (CZE) — Artur Omarov (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Egypt (EGY) — Mohamed Gabr (1st, African/Oceania)
Finland (FIN) — Arvi Savolainen (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Georgia (GEO) — Robert Kobliashvili (1st, European)
Honduras (HON) — Kevin Mejia Castillo (1st, Pan-American)
Iran (IRI) — Mohammadhadi Saravi (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Korea (KOR) — Kim Seungjin (1st, Asian)
Lithuania (LTU) — Mindaugas Venckaitis (1st, European)
Russia (RUS) — Artur Sargsian (1st, World OG Qualifier)
United States of America (USA) — Alan Vera (1st, Pan-American)
Uzbekistan (UZB) — Rustam Assakalov (1st, Asian)
130 KG
Azerbaijan (AZE) — Sabah Shariati (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Belarus (BLR) — Pavel Hlinchuk (3rd, World OG Qualifier)
Chile (CHI) — Yasmani Acosta Fernandez (1st, Pan-American)
China (CHN) — Lingzhe Meng (5th, ’23 World Championships)
Cuba (CUB) — Oscar Pino Hinds (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Egypt (EGY) — Abdellatif Mohamed (bronze, ’23 World Championships)
Germany (GER) — Jello Krahmer (1st, European)
Iran (IRI) — Amin Mirzazadeh (gold, ’23 World Championships)
Kazakhstan (KAZ) — Alimkhan Sydzkov (1st, Asian)
Korea (KOR) — Lee Seung-Chan (1st, Asian)
Morocco (MAR) — Oussama Assad (1st, African/Oceania)
Romania (ROU) — Alin-Alexuc Ciurariu (1st, World OG Qualifier)
Russia (RUS) — Sergey Semenov (1st, European)
Tunisia (TUN) — Amine Guennichi (1st, African/Oceania)
Turkey (TUR) — Riza Kayaalp (silver, ’23 World Championships)
United States of America — Cohlton Schultz (1st, Pan-American)
2024 Olympic Qualifiers Per Nation
Only two of the 36 countries that will send athletes to the ’24 Paris Olympics have qualified all six weight categories — Egypt and Iran. Four nations have secured five weights (Algeria, Azerbaijan, Cuba, and Russia), while two were able to lock down four weight divisions (Kazakhstan and Turkey). Eight countries have three (including the US), ten have two weights qualified, and ten have only one. Below is the complete breakdown of countries by number of weights qualified followed by the complete list in order.
COUNTRIES WITH ALL SIX
Egypt and Iran.
COUNTRIES WITH FIVE
Azerbaijan, Cuba, and Russia (AIN).
COUNTRIES WITH FOUR
Kazakhstan and Turkey.
COUNTRIES WITH THREE
Armenia, Belarus (AIN), China, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, USA, and Uzbekistan.
COUNTRIES WITH TWO
Bulgaria, Chile, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Korea, Moldova, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Venezuela.
COUNTRIES WITH ONE
Colombia, Czechia (formerly Czech Republic), Ecuador, France, Germany, Honduras, Lithuania, Morocco, North Korea, and Poland.
COUNTRIES IN ORDER OF WEIGHTS QUALIFIED
Iran — 6
Egypt — 6
Algeria — 5
Azerbaijan — 5
Cuba — 5
Russia — 5
Kazakhstan — 4
Turkey — 4
Armenia — 3
Belarus — 3
China — 3
Japan — 3
Kyrgyzstan — 3
Serbia — 3
United States — 3
Uzbekistan — 3
Bulgaria — 2
Chile — 2
Finland — 2
Georgia — 2
Hungary — 2
Korea — 2
Moldova — 2
Tunisia — 2
Ukraine — 2
Venezuela — 2
Colombia — 1
Czechia — 1
Ecuador — 1
France — 1
Germany — 1
Honduras — 1
Lithuania — 1
Morocco — 1
North Korea — 1
Poland — 1
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