Zhan Beleniuk bid a beautiful farewell to his career as a professional athlete.
Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler Zhan Beleniuk ended his sports career after winning "bronze" at the Olympic Games-2024 in Paris.
After defeating Pole Arkadiusz Kulinich (3:1) in the fight for the bronze medal, the 33-year-old Ukrainian danced a victory hopak.
Then Belenyuk defiantly took off his wrestling shoes and placed them in the center of the mat. This symbolic gesture means that Jean has completed his sports career. The spectators at the arena in Paris gave the Ukrainian loud applause.
We will add that before the Olympics in Paris, the wrestler and current MP announced that it would be the last in his career.
Beleniuk is leaving the sport as a three-time Olympic medalist. In addition to the “bronze” of Paris-2024, his track record includes “silver” of Rio-2016 and “gold” of Tokyo-2020.
Beleniuk's medal was the tenth for Ukraine at the current Olympics. Now the “blue-yellows” have three gold, three silver and four bronze medals.
Earlier it was reported that another Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler Parviz Nasibov became a silver medalist at the 2024 Olympics, losing in the final to Iranian Said Esmaili Leivesi.
Ukraine is represented at the XXXIII Summer Olympics by 140 athletes who compete in 23 sports. The Games in Paris will last until August 11.