Mindorashvili rallies to win freestyle wrestling 84 kg gold
BEIJING -- Revazi Mindorashvili of Georgia defeated the Russian gold-medal favorite in an emotional semifinal match, then rallied in the finals to win the Olympic freestyle wrestling 84-kilogram (185-pound) championship.
Mindorashvili, the 2005 world champion, lost the first period 3-2 but came back to dominate the final two periods against Yusup Abdusalomov of Tajikstan 3-0 and 4-0.
Mindorashvili reached the finals by reversing an European championships loss in April to reigning world champion Georgy Ketoev of Russia and winning 4-2, 7-3. Ketoev and Taras Danko of Ukraine won the bronze.
In the 96-kg (211½ pounds) class, Shirvani Muradov, taking the place of one of the world's most successful wrestlers over the last four years, defeated Taimuraz Tigiyev of Kazakhstan 1-0, 1-0 for the gold medal.
The 23-year-old Muradov beat out 2004 Olympic champion and three-time reigning world champion Khadshimourad Gatsalov to make Russia's Olympic team. Gatsalov had won every major world title since 2004.
The bronze medal winners were George Gogshelidze of Georgia and Khetag Gazyumov of Azerbaijan.
Daniel Cormier, the American who was third in the world last year, was hospitalized for dehydration problems from his weight cut and did not compete.
In the 120-kg (264½ pounds) category, Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan repeated as the Olympic freestyle wrestling champion, defeating Bakhityar Akhmedov of Russia 3-0, 1-0.
Taymazov joins Russia's Mavlet Batirov (60 kg, 132 pounds) and Buvaysa Saytiev (74 kg, 163 pounds) as repeat freestyle gold medalists from Athens. Taymazov, 29, was also a silver medalist in 2000.
The bronze medalists were David Musulbes of Slovakia and Marid Mutalimov of Kazakhstan.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
