UWW

Beleniuk has won the World Championships a year before the Olympics twice now. He won the gold medal at the 2015 Worlds and repeated the feat at the 2019 Worlds in Nursultan. He also has a silver medal at the 2018 worlds in Budapest and bronze from 2014. But more importantly, he won a silver medal at the Rio Games. In the final, he lost to Davit CHAKVETADZE (RUS). He is also a three-time European champion and also won a gold at the 2015 Euro Games. The Ukrainian will be seeded second at the Tokyo Games. Beleniuk was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union to Rwandanian-Ukrainian parents. He began wrestling at the age of nine years. His father died when he was 11 years old during the Rwandan civil war. He was a pilot. Beleniuk was elected into the Ukraine Parliament and he became the first black person to hold the post.