Paris Preview: Reigning 70 kg World champion Zain Retherford drops to 65 kg for Paris run

The top seed at 65 kg is Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia, who won a bronze medal at the 2023 Senior Worlds. He is a past U23 World champion, boasts three age-group World medals and was a 2023 European champion.

His half bracket will include No. 4 Sebastian Rivera of Puerto Rico, No. 5 seed Maxim Sacultan of Moldova and No. 8 seed Tulga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia. Rivera competed for Northwestern and Rutgers. He won a World silver medal in 2023 and was fifth in the 2022 Worlds. Sacultan was fifth at the 2023 Senior Worlds. Tumur Ochir was a 2021 World bronze medalist and a 2023 Asian Games champion.

The No. 2 seed is 2022 World champion Rahman Amouzad of Iran, who also boasts three age-group World titles. Amouzad won the 2024 Asian Championships. His half-bracket will include No. 3 seed Ismail Musakaev of Hungary, No. 6 seed Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan and No. 7 seed Islam Dudaev of Albania. Based upon past achievements, this side of the Olympic bracket seems much stronger than the top half.

Musukaev was a 2023 World champion, boasts two World bronze medals and was fifth in the 2020 Olympics. He wrestled for Russia before moving to Hungary. Aliyev is a three-time World champion and two-time Olympic medalist, with as deep a resume as anybody wrestling in Paris. Dudaev qualified through the World Olympic Games qualifier. He won two age-group World medals for Russia before heading to Albania.

2023 World champion and 2022 World silver medalist Zain Retherford of the USA will get drawn in, because his achievements were at 70 kg. None of the seeds will want to wrestle him in the first round. A three-time NCAA champion at Penn State, Retherford considered retirement this year but instead went all-in on his Olympic run.

Other non-seeded qualifiers include two-time World medalists Alejandro Valdes of Cuba and Ernzar Akhmataliev of Kyrgyzstan. Valdes is in his third Olympic Games. Also in the field is U.S. collegian Austin Gomez of Mexico, who wrestled for Iowa State, Wisconsin and Michigan. Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan won the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier and emerged from a tough weight class in Japan. Others in the draw are Georgii Okorokov of Australia, Goderdzi Dzebisashvili of Georgia and Guku Akazawa of Samoa. Okorokov, a 2016 U20 European champion for Russia, and Akazawa qualified at the African/Oceania Olympic Qualifier

65 kg MFS Seeded Wrestlers

No. 1 Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)

No. 2 Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)

No. 3 Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN)

No. 4 Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)

No. 5 Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)

No. 6 Haji ALIYEV (AZE)

No. 7 Islam DUDAEV (ALB)

No. 8 Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)

65 kg MFS Olympians (to be drawn in)

Georgii OKOROKOV (AUS)

Alejandro VALDES TOBIER (CUB)

Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)

Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN)

Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)

Austin GOMEZ (MEX)

Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM)

Zain RETHERFORD (USA)

(Local Paris time, six hours ahead of U.S. time zone)

Saturday, August 10, 2024

11:00 a.m. - Repechage Men’s Freestyle 74-125 kg and Women’s Freestyle 62 kg

11:30 a.m. - Round of 16 and Quarterfinals - Men’s Freestyle 65-97 kg and Women’s Freestyle 76 kg.

6:15 p.m. - Semifinals - Men’s Freestyle 65-97 kg and Women’s Freestyle 76 kg

7:15 p.m. - Medal Rounds in Men’s Freestyle 74-125 kg and Women’s Freestyle 62 kg

Sunday, August 11, 2024

11:00 a.m. - Repechage Men’s Freestyle 65-97 kg and Women’s Freestyle 76 kg12:00 noon - Medal Rounds in Men’s Freestyle 65-97 kg and Women’s Freestyle 76 kg