Wrestling

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Iran's Saeid Esmaeili, Bulgaria's Semen Novikov and Japan's Akari Fujinami all won gold in wrestling at Paris 2024 on Thursday.

Esmaeili took the men's 67kg Greco-Roman title by beating Ukraine's Parviz Nasibov who claimed silver, while Cuba's Luis Orta of Cuba and Hasrat Jafarov of Azerbaijan won bronze.

In the 87kg category, Bulgaria's Novikov clinched gold, while Iran's Alireza Mohmadipiani won silver and Ukraine's Zhan Beleniuk and Denmark's Turpal Bisultanov took bronze.

In women's freestyle, Japan's Fujinami took the 53kg gold, while Ecuador's Lucia Yepez Guzman claimed silver.

North Korea's Choe Hyo-gyong and China's Pang Qianyu won bronze.

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Japan's Nao Kusaka, Iran's Mohammadhadi Saravi and Sarah Hildebrandt of the United States all won wrestling gold on day 12 of the Paris Olympics.

Kusaka won the gold medal in the men's 77kg Greco-Roman wrestling, defeating Demeu Zhadrayev of Kazakhstan.

Saravi was triumphant in the men's 97kg, with Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia his second consecutive silver in the event.

Kyrgyzstan won two bronzes in the men's events, with Tokyo silver winner Akzhol Makhmudov and Uzur Dzhuzupbetook claiming medals in the lighter and heavier category respectively.

Armenia's Malkhas Amoyan (77kg) and Cuba's Gabriel Rosillo (97kg) will also take home bronzes.

Tokyo bronze medallist Hildebrandt won gold in the women's 50kg freestyle, beating Yusneylys Guzman of Cuba.

Japan's Yui Susaki, who took gold in the event three years ago, and Feng Ziqi of China won bronze.

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Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez became the first athlete to win five consecutive individual Olympic gold medals in the same event with victory in the 130kg Greco-Roman category.

Lopez, who turns 42 in two weeks, defeated Chile's Yasmani Acosta to take the record outright.

He previously held the title jointly with four-time successive winners Carl Lewis (athletics/long jump), Michael Phelps (swimming/200m medley), Katie Ledecky (swimming/800m freestyle), Al Oerter (athletics/discus), Paul Elvstrom (sailing) and Kaori Icho (wrestling).

Having come out of retirement after a three-year absence from the mat, Lopez beat world champion Amin Mirzazadeh in the quarter-finals before beating the Cuban-born Acosta.

He has lost just one of his 23 contests at the Olympics, in the quarter-finals of the 2004 Athens Games.

The United States' Amit Elor won gold in the women's freestyle 68kg event, beating Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan.