Russia’s Zavur Uguev has been one of the best 57kg wrestlers on the planet since he won his first world title in 2018. Last year was not the greatest for him as he had one of his worst performances in recent memory placing 5th at the world championships, however his only losses came to Stevan Micic and Zelimkhan Abakarov who are at the top of the weight class as well.
Out of the 6 Tokyo Olympic Champions in men’s freestyle wrestling only 2 of them will have the opportunity to defend their title and look to repeat as champion.
Japan’s Takuto Otoguro was overtaken by Kotaro Kiyooka, The United States’ David Taylor was overtaken by Aaron Brooks, Russia’s Abdulrashid Sadulaev at this point is not allowed to compete at the Olympics and they will most likely send Alikhan Zhabrailov, and Gable Steveson is most likely retired from wrestling at this point as the United States will send Mason Parris.
2018 World Championships:
The 2018 world championships in Budapest was Uguev’s first major tournament win and he had some big wins on his way to winning gold including reigning world champion Yuki Takahashi in the semifinals 7-2.
2019 World Championships:
At the 2019 world championships in Nur-Sultan Uguev was able to pick up his second world gold defending his title at 57kgs. He has multiple nice wins this time as well including Reza Atri, Ravi Kumar, and Suleyman Atli.
Tokyo Olympic Games:
Uguev entered the Tokyo Olympic games as one of the top seeds but the clear favorite by most to win the tournament, and he did just that running through a minefield but coming out on top to win Olympic Gold.
Round of 16: 5-4 over Thomas Gilman (USA)
Quarterfinals: 6-6 over Gulomjon Abdullaev (UZB)
Semifinals: 8-3 over Reza Atri (Iran)
Finals: 7-4 over Ravi Kumar (India)
2023 World Championships:
Uguev had not been active for a long time and the 2023 world championships as his comeback tournament did not yield the greatest result with a 5th place finish.
However when you dive more in depth to the bracket it really is not that bad as his only losses came to world champions with Stevan Micic, and Zelimkhan Abakarov. Both of those matches could have gone either way as well.
Can Uguev win gold in Tokyo?
Yes, he might not be the favorite heading into the tournament but given his track record there is no reasonable way to say he does not have a chance to do so.
