Toronto, Pan American Games

U.S. Advances Three to Gold Medal Finals in Pan Am Games Wrestling

Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 21:44 By William May

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TORONTO, Canada (July 14) – World bronze medalist Andrew BISEK (USA) notched a pair of one-sided wins in the opening session of Greco-Roman wrestling at the Pan American Games on Wednesday while leading a trio of 2014 Pan American finalists into the evening’s gold medal bouts.

Bisek stopped Juan ESCOBAR (MEX) by technical fall in the semifinals at 75kg to advance to the championship match against Alvis ALMENDRA (PAN), who finished seventh at the Pan American championships in April.

Bisek, last year’s winner at the Pan American championships, will be joined by fellow Pan American champ Jon ANDERSON (85kg) and 2014 silver medalist Bryce SADDORIS (66kg).

Saddoris will square off with Wuileixis RIVAS (VEN), the Pan American champ last year at 71kg, while Anderson is slated to meet Querys PEREZ (VEN) in the evening’s finale at 85kg. Rivas reached the 66kg final with a 2-1 win over last year’s Pan Am champ Miguel MARTINEZ (CUB).

 

For the Cubans, the opening session was a disaster as three-time Pan Am champ Ismael BORRERO (CUB) fell to Spenser MANGO (USA), 3-3, on a last-second force-out in the 59kg quarterfinals.

At the same time, Alan VERA (CUB) was stunned early in the semifinals with a duck-behind to back-arching throw by Anderson, who rolled into the gold medal final with an 8-0 technical fall.

In the first gold medal final of the evening at 59kg, 2013 Pan Am bronze medalist Ali SOTO (MEX) will square off with 2012 silver medal winner Andres MONTANO (ECU).

Montano advanced to the final with a 9-1 win over Mango, countering the U.S. wrestler’s front headlock with a duck-under and short back arch that dropped Mango on his back for four points.

 

Greco-Roman
59kg

GOLD: Ali SOTO (MEX) v Andres MONTANO (ECU)

BRONZE: Dylan WILLIAMS (CAN) v Cristobal TORRES (CHI)

BRONZE: Jansel RAMIREZ (DOM) v Spenser MANGO (USA)

66kg

GOLD: Wuileixis RIVAS (VEN) v Bryce SADDORIS (USA)

BRONZE: Jair Alexis CUERO (COL) v Miguel MARTINEZ (CUB)

BRONZE: Mario MOLINA (PER) v Jefrin MEJIA (HON)

75kg

GOLD: Alvis ALMENDRA (PAN) v Andrew BISEK (USA)

BRONZE: Maximiliano PRUDENZANO (ARG) v Carlos MUNOZ (COL)

BRONZE: Luis AVENDANO (VEN) v Juan ESCOBAR (MEX)

85kg

GOLD: Querys PEREZ (VEN) v Jon ANDERSON (USA)

BRONZE: Alfonso LEYVA (MEX) v Cristian MOSQUERA (COL)

BRONZE: Oscar MARTINEZ (HON) v Alan VERA (CUB)

Saitiev, three-time Olympic champion, passes away aged 49

Sunday, March 2, 2025 - 17:40 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 2) -- Wrestling legend, three-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time world champion Buvaisar SAITIEV passed away Sunday. He was 49 years old and nine days short of his 50th birthday.

Saitiev was buried in the village of Novokuli in the Novolaksky district of Dagestan on Tuesday, March 4.

Saitiev, widely considered the best Freestyle wrestler of all time, was born in Dagestan but moved to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia to train at the Mindiashvili wrestling academy under the legendary coach Dmitri Mindiashvili.

The 49-year-old announced his retirement soon after winning his third Olympic title in Beijing 2008. His other two titles came in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics. In 2000 Sydney Olympics, Brandon SLAY (USA) defeated him.

Apart from the world and Olympic titles, Saitiev was six-time European champion.

 

United World Wrestling President Nenad LALOVIC expressed his shock on the untimely passing of Saitiev.

"The wrestling family is in shock with the passing of Saitiev," Lalovic said. "He was a legend of the sport and we lost him at a very young age of 49. Saitiev inspired wrestlers around the world and many took up the sport because of him. It's an unrepairable loss to the wrestling community and we are with the Saitiev family during this time of grief."

In 2007, Saitiev was awarded as the best Freestyle wrestler in history by UWW [then FILA].

Wrestling majorly in the 74kg weight class, Saitiev stood at 183 centimetres and made his World Championships debut in Atlanta, 1995. A year later, he won the gold medal at 74kg at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He became world champion in 1997 and 1998 but did not participate in 1999. He lost to Slay in early rounds of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and finished ninth.

But he captured the gold medals again at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships and returned to the top at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He became the world champion in 2005 and 2006 and claimed his third Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.