Wrestlers That Left Their Mark at Paris 2024 Olympics
Kennedy Blades won a silver medal for the United States at the 2024 Olympics. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com
We know that wrestling is hardly the showcase event of the Summer Olympics, which is a huge shame. We’ve always loved watching wrestling at the Olympics, as some of the performances the competitors treat us to on that mat are truly wonderful.
So, we figured we would take the time to share some of the wrestlers who left their mark in Paris.
Japan
We want to kick off this list by mentioning Japan as a whole. Japan is a country that has always shone in the Olympic wrestling events, but in 2024, they shone a little brighter. Japanese athletes were awarded a whopping 44% of all the gold medals available during the wrestling events. This was nearly half of their total gold medal count for the entirety of the Olympics.
Japan really defied the odds at the Paris Olympics, which would have been a shock or delight for anyone that placed a wager on the Summer Olympics, as Japan were considered underdogs at +8000 to take home a bounty of medals over the tournaments. Throughout the event there were incredible opportunities for the public to get involved, many of them placing bets on their favorite athletes and teams. It’s no shock that the Olympics sparks one of the largest spikes in betting revenue, and Japan was certainly one to watch.
Mijaín López Núñez
If you’ve regularly watched wrestling at the Summer Olympics, then you would have almost certainly heard of this fellow. Mijaín López Núñez has been a staple of the Olympics for the last 21 years (yep, you read that correctly). In 2024, he picked up his fifth gold for the 130kg Greco-Roman event, helping to cement him as an Olympic legend.
This guy is now the only person in Olympic history to win the gold medal in the same event five times. Not bad, right? In fact, what makes it even better is that wrestling is an insanely physical sport. It is not uncommon for even the best competitors to only do well for a few years, and then disappear. The fact that Nunes has managed to keep it going for over 20 years is remarkable.
Unfortunately, he has said that he won’t be competing in the next Olympics. We bet his competitors love that idea, though. At least they now have a chance to win something other than silver or bronze.
Aman Sehrawat
Aman Sehrawat ‘only’ won a bronze medal for India. However, it is a medal that will go down in history. We will admit that nothing amazingly special happened during his 57kg bout. However, at the age of 21, Aman became the youngest medalist in India’s history.
We believe that Aman has what it takes to win the gold medal in the future. He does seem a little ‘green’ right now, but we would not be surprised if he manages to pick up a medal at the Summer Olympics 2028, and could be worth a bet or two.
Akhmed Tazhudinov
As a smaller nation, Bahrain is rarely tipped to pick up medals. While they have picked up a few in athletics events, anything outside of that has eluded them. However, that was all set to change in 2024. Coming off the back of a strong World Championships, Tazhudinov was predicted to go far in the men’s 97kg freestyle – and he did. He became Bahrain’s first medal winner outside of athletics, ever. Oh, and it was a gold. Not too bad, right?
Just like Aman, Tazhudinov does feel like he is at the start of his career. So, we wouldn’t be surprised if he also picks up a few medals going forward. While the 97kg freestyle field is always competitive, it does look like it would take a tremendous competitor to even come close to taking Tazhudinov down.
Yuka Kagami
We did talk about Japan earlier, but we feel as if Yuka Kagami warrants the discussion. Up until the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Japan mostly thrived in the lower weight classes, particularly for women. Well, Kagami turned that on its head. She became the first person in Japan to win the heaviest weight class for women (76kg). So, that’s going to go down in the history books for a wrestling-crazy nation.
While she was doing that, fellow Japanese teammate Kotaro Kiyooka was winning the 65kg title. Although it wasn’t an especially great victory, it was her first at the Olympics and something that could potentially repeat in the foreseeable future.
Kennedy Blades
Kennedy Blades was the poor soul who had to go up against Kagami. This meant that Blades had to make do with a silver medal. Now, if you watched this match, you would think that Blades was considerably worse than Kagami. However, she wasn't. Blades is still fairly new to the upper echelons of the sport, and it was clear she has to work on her positioning. However, if she does work on that, she is likely to be a major competitor when 2028 rolls around and she is competing on home soil.
Kotaro Kiyooka
Finally, we’ve got Kotaro Kiyooka, who competed in the men's 65kg. When he entered the Olympic Games, he was just another name. While he had put on a few decent performances over the years, including beating some medalists, he never performed amazingly well. He just looked like another name on a list of ‘fodder’ for the other competitors. Oh, how he proved everybody wrong.
Kiyooka consistently brushed his opponents aside and even had a fairly easy final bout. He walked away with a gold medal, something that nobody could have predicted before the games.
Now, only time will tell whether Kiyooka will win another in 2028. Unfortunately for him, the weight class is currently stacked and it does seem that it could be taken by anybody. However, if Kiyooka can put in a performance even half as good as we saw this year, he certainly will go far.