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Afro-Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk[lower-alpha 1] (Ukrainian: Жан Венсанович Беленюк; born 24 January 1991) is a Ukrainian politician and retired Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a three-time Olympic medalist and won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the silver medal in the Greco-Roman 85 kg at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Beleniuk is also a two-time world champion, a three-time European champion and a European Games champion. In 2019, he became the first black member of the Ukrainian Parliament.[1][2][3]
Beleniuk was born in 1991 in Kyiv to a father from Rwanda and a mother from Ukraine. His father was a pilot who studied in Kyiv at the National Aviation University and died during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda when Beleniuk was 3 years old.[4]
Beleniuk began wrestling in 2000 when he was nine years old.[5]
In 2010, Beleniuk won the silver medal at the Junior World Championships. In 2011, he became the Junior European Champion amongst, and won bronze at the World Championship. In 2012, he won the bronze medal at the European Championships. In 2013, he won bronze again at the Summer Universiade.
In 2014, he won a gold medal at the 2014 European Wrestling Championships,[6] and bronze at the World Championships.
In 2015, he won the silver medal at the first European Games in Azerbaijan. On 10 September 2015, after winning against the then-reigning World Champion and then-Champion of Asia, Uzbek Rustam Assakalov scoring 6:0, Beleniuk won gold at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in the under-85 kg weight category.
In 2016, he won gold at the 2016 European Wrestling Championships, followed by the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[7]
In 2021, he won the gold medal in the men's Greco-Roman 87 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[8]
Beleniuk was briefly a member of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. He left the National Olympic Committee in January 2023 due to disagreement with its new president Vadym Gutzeit.[9] In 2024, Beleniuk won a bronze medal in the men's Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and subsequently retired from competing.[10][11]
Beleniuk was elected a deputy to the Verkhovna Rada in July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of the Servant of the People political party.[12] He was one of the first ten candidates on the party's electoral list.[13]
Year | Tournament | Venue | Result | Event |
---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | European Cadet Championships | Warsaw, Poland | 2nd | Greco-Roman 76 kg |
2008 | European Cadet Championships | Daugavpils, Latvia | 3rd | Greco-Roman 76 kg |
2010 | European Junior Championships | Samokov, Bulgaria | 10th | Greco-Roman 84 kg |
World Junior Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 3rd | Greco-Roman 84 kg | |
2011 | European Junior Championships | Zrenjanin, Serbia | 1st | Greco-Roman 84 kg |
World Junior Championships | Bucharest, Romania | 2nd | Greco-Roman 84 kg | |
2012 | European Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | 3rd | Greco-Roman 84 kg |
2013 | European Championships | Tbilisi, Georgia | 8th | Greco-Roman 84 kg |
Summer Universiade | Kazan, Russia | 3rd | Greco-Roman 84 kg | |
2014 | European Championships | Vantaa, Finland | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg |
World Championships | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | 3rd | Greco-Roman 85 kg | |
2015 | European Games | Baku, Azerbaijan | 2nd | Greco-Roman 85 kg |
World Championships | Las Vegas, United States | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg | |
Military World Games | Mungyeong, South Korea | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg | |
2016 | European Championships | Riga, Latvia | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg |
Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brasil | 2nd | Greco-Roman 85 kg | |
2018 | World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 2nd | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
2019 | European Championships | Bucharest, Romania | 1st | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
European Games | Minsk, Belarus | 1st | Greco-Roman 87 kg | |
World Championships | Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan | 1st | Greco-Roman 87 kg | |
2021 | European Championships | Warsaw, Poland | 3rd | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 1st | Greco-Roman 87 kg | |
2023 | World Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | 3rd | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
2024 | European Championships | Bucharest, Romania | 3rd | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
Olympic Games | Paris, France | 3rd | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
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