| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 2 May 1962 Imola, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 48 kg (106 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Greco-Roman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | CISA Faenza | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vincenzo Maenza (born 2 May 1962) is an Italian Greco-Roman wrestler. He won two gold medals and a silver medal at the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Olympic Games.
Nicknamed "Pollicino" (Thumbelin) for his small size, Vincenzo Maenza is considered the best wrestler in the Italian history. In fact, he is the first and only Italian wrestler who has won three Olympic medals, and he was also the first and only who was able to win two gold medals.
When was a child, Vincenzo weighed only 60 lbs and was affected by scoliosis. He started to wrestle at 12 years old at the CISA AUDAX wrestling club in Faenza.
He began to compete in 1976. Soon he became National Champion several times and in 1979 won the silver medal at the Mediterranean Games in Split. The next year he competed in the Summer Olympics in Moscow and placed 7th. After he won the bronze medal at Junior European Championship and the gold medal at the Junior World Championship, in 1984 Vincenzo became Olympic champion for the first time at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In the final, he defeated German wrestler Markus Scherer in 1:59 with an awesome 12-0 score.
The 1987 was a golden year for the Italian wrestler. He became European Champion and silver medalist at World Championship. A year later, at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Vincenzo won the gold medal for the second time, after defeated the strong Bulgarian wrestler Bratan Tsenov in the semifinal match and Andrzej Głąb of Poland in the final match. In 1992, at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, he arrived at the final match and won the silver medal, after was defeated by the Soviet wrestler Oleg Kutscherenko, who was ten years younger than he.
At the end of his career, Vincenzo Maenza's awards included: 3 Olympic Medals (two golds and one silver), 1 time European champion and 2 times bronze medalist, 1 time silver medalist and 2 times bronze medalist at the World Championships, 2 times gold medalist and 1 time bronze medalist at the Mediterranean Games.
In 2005, Vincenzo Maenza was inducted in the FILA International Wrestling Hall Of Fame.
Today, Vincenzo lives in Faenza with his family.
Medal of Honor and Sport Merit
He said about wrestling:
...because all the other sports, like soccer, are played for pleasure. Wrestling not. Or love it, or hate it. Wrestling needs a superhuman conviction to do well and succeed. Of motivations that are inside you[...] it's your challenge against your disquiet, against your nightmares, against your inside enemy.
Hamza Yerlikaya is a Turkish Graeco-Roman style wrestler. He is a two-time Olympic champion, three-time World Champion, and the first Turkish wrestler to become European champion a record eight times, a feat that has since been matched by Rıza Kayaalp. He was named The Wrestler of the century in 1996 by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA).
Şeref Eroğlu is a Turkish wrestler. He is the current president of the Turkish Wrestling Federation.
Armen Nazaryan is an Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler who later represented Bulgaria. Nazaryan is a two-time Olympic Champion, a three-time World Champion, and a six-time European Champion. After Armenia regained independence in 1991, Nazaryan became the first Olympic gold medalist for the country. He was recognized by the FILA as the best wrestler of the year in 1998 and 2003. In 2007, Nazaryan was inducted as a member of the FILA Hall of Fame.
Mehmet Akif Pirim, is a former Turkish Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the featherweight class (62 kg), and currently a trainer. He won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Men's Greco-Roman wrestling and the bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics.
Mahmut Demir, is a Turkish Olympic, World and European champion former wrestler in the super heavyweight class. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Men's Freestyle wrestling.
Mohamed Abdelfattah, commonly known by his nickname "Bogy", is a retired Egyptian Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler who competed in 76 kg, 84 kg, and 96 kg weight class. He is a 2006 world champion, 3 time World Medalist, and 3 time Olympian. After retiring as a player, Bogy became coach of Sweden National Team, and in his first season 2009 he successfully guided Jimmy Lidberg to win a silver medal and Jalmar Sjöberg to win a bronze medal in the 2009 world championship in Denmark.
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the UEFA Euro 2004. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling, water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many world class sport venues all over Greece and especially in Athens. Greek athletes have won a total 161 medals for Greece in 17 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of medals per capital
Roman Amoyan is an Armenian retired Greco-Roman wrestler of Yazidi descent. He is an Olympic bronze medalist, three-time World Championships medalist, and two-time European Champion. Amoyan received the Honored Master of Sports of Armenia title in 2009.
Andrea Minguzzi is an Italian Greco-Roman wrestler. He won a gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Yury Patrikeyev is an Armenian-Russian Greco-Roman wrestler. He is an Olympic and World Championships medalist and four-time European Champion. Patrikeyev has been awarded the Master of Sport of Russia, International Class title.
Tamás Gáspár is a Hungarian wrestler and world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Frank Chamizo Marquez is a Cuban-Italian freestyle wrestler who competes at 74 kilograms. Starting his career in Cuba, Chamizo became a World Cup Champion, World Championship medalist and Pan American champion at 55 kilograms in 2010 and 2011, before immigrating to Italy that same year. Since then, Chamizo became the greatest Italian wrestler of all time, racking up two World Championships, an Olympic bronze medal in 2016, an Individual World Cup silver medal, a European Games silver medal, four European Championships, in between others. Chamizo is also known for his rivalry with seven-time Olympic and World champion Jordan Burroughs, against whom he has gone 2–4, but winning the last match.
Mikhail Mamiashvili is a Russian wrestler of Georgian origin. He won an Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, competing for the Soviet Union.
Anastasija Grigorjeva is a Latvian freestyle wrestler, who won gold at the 2010, 2013 and 2016 European Championships. She has also won two bronze medals at World Championship level and won gold at the European Games. She has competed at three Olympics.
Valerii Oleksandrovych Andriitsev is a male freestyle wrestler from Ukraine. He won the silver medal in the Men's freestyle 96 kg at 2012 Summer Olympics. He won the silver in the 2012 European Wrestling Championships. At the 2014 World Wrestling Championships he took the bronze medal after winning a rematch against American Jake Varner, who beat him in the gold medal match at the 2012 Olympics. In June 2015, he earned bronze at the inaugural European Games for Ukraine in wrestling, more specifically, in the men's freestyle in the - 97 kg division.
Arutik (Aristeidis) Rubenian is a retired Armenian-Greek Greco Roman wrestler. He is a two-time European Championship medalist, five-time Greek Champion, Soviet Champion, World Cup winner, and Olympic participant.
Sport in Yugoslavia had a significant role in its culture and society. Team sports such as football, basketball, handball, volleyball and water polo had the biggest popularity. Of individual sports the most popular were tennis, athletics, alpine skiing, swimming, table tennis, ski jumping and chess. Yugoslavia made its debut at the Summer Olympics in 1920. Until its break up in 1992, it competed in 16 Summer and 14 Winter Olympic games and won a total of 87 medals in various summer and winter sports. Yugoslavia hosted its first and the only Winter Olympic games in 1984 in Sarajevo when Jure Franko won country's first Winter Olympic medal, silver in alpine skiing.
This page lists notable people from Dagestan.
Iryna Alyaksandrauna Kurachkina is a Belarusian freestyle wrestler. She won the silver medal in the women's 57 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. Kurachkina is also a two-time bronze medalist at the World Wrestling Championships and a five-time medalist, including three golds, at the European Wrestling Championships. She also won the gold medal in her event at the 2019 European Games held in Minsk, Belarus.
