Hamid Sourian Reihanpour ( fa, حمید سوریان ریحان‌پور; born 24 August 1985) is a retired Iranian wrestler. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Greco-Roman wrestlers of all time. Sourian is

2012 Summer Olympic games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

gold medalist and six-time World Champion. He won both the Junior World Championships and Senior World Championships in 2005. He is also

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and 2008 asian championships gold medalist.

Summer Olympics 2008

Sourian was a strong favorite to win the gold medal at 55 kg in the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, but was upset in the quarterfinals by eventual gold medalist

Nazyr Mankiev Nazyr Yunuzovich Mankiev (russian: Назир Юнузович Манкиев) (born January 27, 1985 in Surkhakhi, Ingushetia, Soviet Union) is an Ingush wrestler who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling. Res ...

of Russia. Sourian was defeated in the bronze medal match by South Korea's Park Eun-Chul, Sourian had beaten Park in two different world championship finals prior to this Bronze medal match. In both his losses, he lost on tie-breaker criteria.

Summer Olympics 2012

On 5 August 2012, he won his country's first ever gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, defeating Azerbaijan's

Rovshan Bayramov Rovshan Bayramov ( az, Rövşən Bayramov; born 7 May 1987, Baku, Azerbaijani SSR) is an Azerbaijani wrestler. He is a European and world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling. Moreover, he is a two-time Olympic silver medalist. ...

in the 55 kg final.

Summer Olympics 2016

After failing to qualify for the World Championship games and Continental Qualifier, on 3 May 2016 Sourian entered the second of the two worldwide qualification tournaments for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

after failing to overcome

Ivo Angelov Ivo Serafimov Angelov ( bg, Иво Серафимов Ангелов; born 15 October 1984 in Pernik) is an amateur Bulgarian Greco-Roman wrestler, who played for the men's lightweight category. In 2011, Angelov had won a bronze medal for his di ...

from

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. On May 5,

Aleksandr Karelin Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin ( rus, Александр Александрович Карелин, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ kəˈrʲelʲɪn; born 19 September 1967) is a Russian politician and retired athlete. Karelin comp ...

posted a photo of Sourian on his

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page, wishing him success by writing: "You are the ''best'' and I wish you the ''best'' in the last 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament. Believe you can and you will." On May 7, Sourian finished first in the tournament and secured his ticket for Rio. On the 14th of August, he was defeated by

Shinobu Ota is a Japanese Greco-Roman wrestler and mixed martial artist. Throughout his career, he notably claimed the 2016 Olympic silver medal at 59kg, the '19 World Championship at 63kg, the '18 Asian Games Gold medal at 60kg and three Asian Champion ...

from Japan in the round of 32. Although leading by 4-0 in the first half of the bout, his energy quickly depleted in the second half and he was defeated by 5-6 in the end. His next match was against

Almat Kebispayev Almat Kabdrashevich Kebispayev (born 12 December 1987) is a Greco-Roman wrestler from Kazakhstan who competes in the 67 kg weight division. He won five medals at the world championships in 2010–2021 and competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olymp ...

from Kazakistan in the repechage round. Again he was comfortably in the lead by 7-0 in the first half and then only needed one point for victory in the second, but his energy levels dropped towards the end and he lost the bout. This was his last appearance in Rio and his tournament was brought to a surprising end.

International competition record

Hamid Sourian at the 2016 Summer Olympics 02

References

External links