Greek wrestler Dauren Kurugliev won a bronze medal for Greece at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Friday.
Kurugliev competed in the men’s 86kg freestyle category event and earned yet another medal for Greece.
Kurugliev defeated Myles Nazem Amine of San Marino 5-4 in the bronze medal match and therefore managed to secure a spot on the podium and the 8th overall medal for Greece in this year’s Olympic Games.
In the first round, Kurugliev managed to score two technical points, with three more (2-1) coming later in the second round.
On his behalf, San Marino’s Amine achieved no technical points in the first round but scored four (2-1-1) in the second round.
Kurugliev’s path to win bronze for Greece
Kurugliev is a three-time European champion. He entered the Paris 2024 Olympics as one of the top contenders in the popular category of men’s 86kg.
He won his opening match by technical superiority over Ramos from Puerto Rico 11-0 and progressed to the next stages of the event.
Kurugliev had a tough match against the 2020 Olympic champion Hassan Yazdanicharati who competed for Iran during the quarterfinal stages of this year’s Olympic wrestling events.
Iran is a country with a long tradition in wrestling, and during this hard-fought battle against the Iranian champion, the Greek athlete had a 4-0 lead before Yazdanicharati came back to win 9-4. This was Kurugliev’s first loss in this year’s Olympic Games.
Nonetheless, Kurugliev was determined to not give up and bring as much success as possible to Greece. This is why he battled back through the repechage where he beat Australia’s Lawrence 10-0.
This helped him secure his position in the bronze medal match with the win over Amine. The bronze is the first Olympic medal for the 32-year-old.
Kurugliev’s career from Russia to Greece
Kurugliev has had a path to competing for Greece that is a unique and fascinating one. The young athlete was born in Russia and competed for the Russian national team for many years and for most of his career.
Kurugliev has won multiple Russian national titles and has competed for the region of Dagestan. However, in 2023, Kurugliev decided to abandon the Russian national team and instead start competing for Greece.
He was allowed to do so because of his Lezgin ethnic background. The Lezgins are an ethnic minority group within the Russian Federation that are native to southern Russia near the border with Azerbaijan.
Kurugliev has already found success competing for Greece, as he won the last two European championships in 2023 and 2024. Now he has added an Olympic bronze medal to his impressive repertoire.
