Shaban Trstena ( mk, Шабан Трстена, Šaban Trstena, sq, Shaban Tërstena; born 1 January 1965) is a Macedonian-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

n former freestyle wrestler. Trstena was born in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

, SFR Yugoslavia and is of Albanian ethnicity. Growing up in Čair, Trstena joined the Liria Wrestling Club and was trained by notable coaches Mentaz Allajbegu and Hajrush Sinani, who had also trained notable wrestlers

Shaban Sejdiu Shaban Sejdiu ( mk, Шабан Сејдиу; born 6 May 1959) is Macedonian retired freestyle wrestler. An ethnic Macedonian Albanian, Sejdiu, as part of the Skopje Wrestling Club, was trained by notable coaches Risto Takov, who had also train ...

, Bajram Qorrolli, Abdulla Mehmeti, Mustaf Syla, Shend Kamberi and Adnan Elezi. Trstena won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and also won the silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

. Trstena is currently the youngest to win any wrestling gold at the Olympics, being 19 years of age at the Los Angeles Olympics. He would win in his wrestling carrier the 1984 European Championship and the 1990 European Wrestling Championship in Poznan. Trstena also won gold beating the then World Champion

Valentin Yordanov Valentin Dimitrov Yordanov ( bg, Валентин Димитров Йорданов; born January 26, 1960), also transliterated Jordanov, is a retired Bulgarian freestyle wrestler who competed in the up to 52 kg weight class. He is an Oly ...

. Trstena would then win silver in 1983, 1985, 1986, and the bronze in 1982 and 1988. In the

1982 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 1982 World Wrestling Championships. Freestyle competition were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Greco-Roman competition were held in Katowice, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Pola ...

, Trstena reached bronze. During the three times he competed in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

or Balkan Games, he won gold in all three. He has been pronounced the Best Macedonian athlete many times and once, in 1984 the best athlete of Yugoslavia. In 2000 he has been also pronounced the best Albanian athlete of the last century. He has won 715 matches out of 741 fights. He participated in 42 tournaments in the world winning 30 gold medals, the remainder being silver and bronze. At the

Atlanta Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in 1996 he won the fifth place.

References

1965 births Living people Macedonian people of Albanian descent Sportspeople from Skopje Macedonian male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Yugoslavia Olympic wrestlers for North Macedonia Wrestlers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Yugoslav male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in wrestling European champions for Yugoslavia World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Competitors at the 1983 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1987 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling European Wrestling Championships medalists {{Yugoslavia-Olympic-medalist-stub