Semyon Novikov will compete for the “gold” at the Games in Paris as part of the Bulgarian national team.
Former Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler Semyon Novikov reached the final of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The 26-year-old native of Kharkov, who represents Bulgaria, defeated David Losonczi from Hungary in the semi-final bout in the 87 kg weight category – 3:1.
Novikov will fight for the Olympic gold against Iranian Alireza Mohmadipiani, who lost to Ukrainian Zhan Beleniuk in the semi-final.
Novikov has long been Beleniuk's main competitor for a place in the Ukrainian national team at major international tournaments, including the 2020 Olympics, which took place in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Then Zhanna was entrusted to represent our country and he became an Olympic champion, and Semyon went to Tokyo as his sparring partner.
Before that, Novikov won gold at the European Championships in 2020 as part of the Ukrainian national team, which Beleniuk missed. Semyon also won the U-23 World Championship twice, which no Ukrainian had ever done before.
Subsequently, Novikov decided to change his sports citizenship and began competing for Bulgaria in 2023. Since then, he has won bronze at the European Championships, winning an Olympic license for the 2024 Games.
After the semi-final fights at the 2024 Olympics, the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Vladimir Shatskikh, assessed Beleniuk's performance at the tournament and also spoke about Novikov's advancement to the finals.
“Are you happy with Zhan? Of course, I am. The level is very high, at the world level. Considering that we have a war in Ukraine, the competition has dropped, and Semyon Novikov is in the final for Bulgaria, although Zhan was preparing him to replace him. But that's what he decided, that's how it turned out, and Semyon represents Bulgaria and is fighting for it in the final,” Shatskikh said in a commentary for Suspilne Sport.
The final fight with Novikov's participation will take place on Thursday, August 8. On the same day, Beleniuk will compete for the bronze. The medal bouts in this weight class will begin at 21:05 Kyiv time.
Also on August 8, Parviz Nasibov (weight class up to 67 kg) will fight for gold in Greco-Roman wrestling. He reached the final the day before and guaranteed Ukraine at least a silver medal.
See also: She couldn’t beat the current champion: Ukrainian wrestler lost the fight for bronze at the 2024 Olympics
Ukraine is represented at the XXXIII Summer Olympics by 140 athletes competing in 23 sports. Ukrainian athletes have already won eight awards at the 2024 Olympics: three gold, two silver and three bronze.
As of now, Ukraine occupies 17th place in the medal standings. The Games in Paris will last until August 11.
