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Zhan Beleniuk

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Zhan Beleniuk
Жан Беленюк
Beleniuk with his gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Member of the Ukrainian Parliament
for Servant of the People
Assumed office
July 2019
Personal details
Born (1991-01-24) 24 January 1991 (age 33)
Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Sports career
Full nameZhan Vensanovych Beleniuk
NationalityUkrainian
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight85 kg (187 lb)
SportWrestling
EventGreco-Roman
ClubSpartak Kyiv
Coached byVitalyj Kisilisa
Aleksej Dobrovolskyj
Oleg Sazonov
Retiredyes

Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk[a] (Ukrainian: Жан Венсанович Беленюк; born 24 January 1991) is a Ukrainian politician and retired Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a three-time Olympic medalist and won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the silver medal in the Greco-Roman 85 kg at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Beleniuk is also a two-time world champion, a three-time European champion and a European Games champion. In 2019, he became the first black member of the Ukrainian Parliament.[1][2][3]

Early life

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Beleniuk was born in 1991 in Kyiv to a father from Rwanda and a mother from Ukraine. His father was a pilot who studied in Kyiv at the National Aviation University and died during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda when Beleniuk was 3 years old.[4]

Beleniuk began wrestling in 2000 when he was nine years old.[5]

Career

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In 2010, Beleniuk won the silver medal at the Junior World Championships. In 2011, he became the Junior European Champion amongst, and won bronze at the World Championship. In 2012, he won the bronze medal at the European Championships. In 2013, he won bronze again at the Summer Universiade.

In 2014, he won a gold medal at the 2014 European Wrestling Championships,[6] and bronze at the World Championships.

In 2015, he won the silver medal at the first European Games in Azerbaijan. On 10 September 2015, after winning against the then-reigning World Champion and then-Champion of Asia, Uzbek Rustam Assakalov scoring 6:0, Beleniuk won gold at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in the under-85 kg weight category.

In 2016, he won gold at the 2016 European Wrestling Championships, followed by the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[7]

In 2021, he won the gold medal in the men's Greco-Roman 87 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[8]

Beleniuk was briefly a member of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. He left the National Olympic Committee in January 2023 due to disagreement with its new president Vadym Gutzeit.[9] In 2024, Beleniuk won a bronze medal in the men's Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and subsequently retired from competing.[10][11]

Politics

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Beleniuk was elected a deputy to the Verkhovna Rada in July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of the Servant of the People political party.[12] He was one of the first ten candidates on the party's electoral list.[13]

Achievements

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Year Tournament Venue Result Event
2007 European Cadet Championships Poland Warsaw, Poland 2nd Greco-Roman 76 kg
2008 European Cadet Championships Latvia Daugavpils, Latvia 3rd Greco-Roman 76 kg
2010 European Junior Championships Bulgaria Samokov, Bulgaria 10th Greco-Roman 84 kg
World Junior Championships Hungary Budapest, Hungary 3rd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2011 European Junior Championships Serbia Zrenjanin, Serbia 1st Greco-Roman 84 kg
World Junior Championships Romania Bucharest, Romania 2nd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2012 European Championships Serbia Belgrade, Serbia 3rd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2013 European Championships Georgia (country) Tbilisi, Georgia 8th Greco-Roman 84 kg
Summer Universiade Russia Kazan, Russia 3rd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2014 European Championships Finland Vantaa, Finland 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
World Championships Uzbekistan Tashkent, Uzbekistan 3rd Greco-Roman 85 kg
2015 European Games Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan 2nd Greco-Roman 85 kg
World Championships United States Las Vegas, United States 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
Military World Games South Korea Mungyeong, South Korea 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
2016 European Championships Latvia Riga, Latvia 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
Olympic Games Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2nd Greco-Roman 85 kg
2018 World Championships Hungary Budapest, Hungary 2nd Greco-Roman 87 kg
2019 European Championships Romania Bucharest, Romania 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
European Games Belarus Minsk, Belarus 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
World Championships Kazakhstan Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
2021 European Championships Poland Warsaw, Poland 3rd Greco-Roman 87 kg
Olympic Games Japan Tokyo, Japan 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
2023 World Championships Serbia Belgrade, Serbia 3rd Greco-Roman 87 kg
2024 European Championships Romania Bucharest, Romania 3rd Greco-Roman 87 kg
Olympic Games France Paris, France 3rd Greco-Roman 87 kg

International competition

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International record
Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location Notes
2021 Olympic Champion 1st place, gold medalist(s) at 87kg
Win 4–0 Hungary Viktor Lőrincz 5–1 2021-08-04 2020 Summer Olympics Japan Tokyo, Japan
Win 3–0 Croatia Ivan Huklek 7–1 2021-08-03
Win 2–0 Algeria Bachir Sid Azara 1–1
Win 1–0 Serbia Zurab Datunashvili 3–1
2021 European Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) at 87kg
Win 3–1 Germany Denis Kudla 1–1 2021-04-24 2021 European Championships Poland Warsaw, Poland
Win 2–1 Croatia Vjekoslav Luburić 7–1
Loss 1–1 Serbia Zurab Datunashvili 1–1 2021-04-23
Win 1–0 Sweden Oskar Johansson 7–1
2019 World Champion 1st place, gold medalist(s) at 87kg
Win 5–0 Hungary Viktor Lőrincz 2–1 2019-09-16 2019 World Championships Kazakhstan Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Win 4–0 Germany Denis Kudla 2–1 2019-09-15
Win 3–0 Belarus Mikalai Stadub 3–1
Win 2–0 Croatia Ivan Huklek 7–1
Win 1–0 Mexico Alfonso Leyva 5–1
2019 European Games Champion 1st place, gold medalist(s) at 87kg
Win 4–0 Azerbaijan Islam Abbasov 3–1 2019-06-30 2019 European Games Belarus Minsk, Belarus
Win 3–0 Belarus Radzik Kuliyeu 3–1 2019-06-29
Win 2–0 Poland Arkadiusz Kułynycz 9–1
Win 1–0 Armenia Maksim Manukyan 5–1
2019 European Champion 1st place, gold medalist(s) at 87kg
Win 4–0 Azerbaijan Islam Abbasov 5–1 2019-04-13 2019 European Championships Romania Bucharest, Romania
Win 3–0 Lithuania Eividas Stankevičius 5–1 2019-04-12
Win 2–0 Hungary Erik Szilvássy 3–1
Win 1–0 Croatia Ivan Huklek 6–1
2018 UWW world 2nd place, silver medalist(s) at 87kg
Loss 4–1 Turkey Metehan Başar 1–2 2018-10-27 2018 World Championships Hungary Budapest, Hungary
Win 4–0 Azerbaijan Islam Abbasov 5–1 2018-10-26
Win 3–0 Iran Hossein Nouri 4–2
Win 2–0 Armenia Artur Shahinyan 4–1
Win 1–0 Lithuania Eividas Stankevičius 4–2
2016 Olympic 2nd place, silver medalist(s) at 85kg
Loss 3–1 Russia Davit Chakvetadze 2-9 2016-08-15 2016 Summer Olympics Brazil Rio de Janeiro
Win 3–0 Belarus Javid Hamzatau 6–0
Win 2–0 Bulgaria Nikolay Bayryakov 10–1
Win 1–0 Egypt Ahmed Othman 9–0
2016 European Champion 1st place, gold medalist(s) at 85kg
Win 4–0 Georgia (country) Roberti Kobliashvili 5–2 2016-03-13 European Championships Latvia Riga, Latvia
Win 3–0 Lithuania Laimutis Adomaitis 2–1
Win 2–0 Germany Denis Kudla 6–1
Win 1–0 Sweden Kristofer Johansson 5–0
2015 UWW world 1st place, gold medalist(s) at 85kg
Win 6–0 Uzbekistan Rustam Assakalov 6–0 2015-09-09 2015 World Championships United States Las Vegas, NV
Win 5–0 Azerbaijan Saman Tahmasebi 3–1
Win 4–0 Poland Damian Janikowski 2–1
Win 3–0 Hungary Viktor Lőrincz 3–1
Win 2–0 Germany Ramsin Azizsir 3–0
Win 1–0 Mexico Alfonso Leyva 6–2
2015 European Games 2nd place, silver medalist(s) at 85kg
Loss 4–1 Russia Davit Chakvetadze 2–3 2015-06-14 2015 European Games Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan
Win 4–0 Armenia Maksim Manukyan 12–4
Win 3–0 Turkey Metehan Başar 3–1
Win 2–0 Romania Attila Tamas 7–0
Win 1–0 Serbia Dejan Franjković 8–0
2014 UWW world 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) at 85kg
Win 4–1 Germany Ramsin Azizsir 3–0 2014-09-12 2014 World Championships Uzbekistan Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Loss 3–1 Azerbaijan Saman Tahmasebi 0–4
Win 3–0 Egypt Ahmed Othman 10–1
Win 2–0 Cuba Pablo Shorey 6–1
Win 1–0 Finland Rami Hietaniemi 1–0
2013 Summer Universiare 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) at 84kg
Win 4–1 Kazakhstan Nursultan Tursynov 3–1 2013-07-15 2013 Summer Universiade Russia Kazan, Russia
Loss 3–1 Armenia Maksim Manukyan 0–5
Win 3–0 Georgia (country) Beka Rokva 3–1
Win 2–0 Poland Tadeusz Michalik 3–1
Win 1–0 Turkey Aslan Atem 3–1
Beleniuk with President Volodymyr Zelensky in August 2019.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Also transliterated Jean Vensanovich Belenyuk

References

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  1. ^ Штогрін, Ірина (11 June 2019). "Чи пройшла Україна "тест Чепурного", реагуючи на першого темношкірого кандидата у депутати Жана Беленюка". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  2. ^ "Монобільшість Зе, бюджетні гроші для Шарія та перший темношкірий депутат. 7 "вперше" виборів у Раду | Громадське телебачення". hromadske.ua (in Ukrainian). 22 July 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Ukraine's Zhan Beleniuk reaches Greco-Roman wrestling quarter-finals at 2024 Olympics".
  4. ^ Melkozerova, Veronika. (14 December 2018). Zhan Beleniuk: Champion wrestler refuses better offers abroad to stay at home: ‘I belong here’. Archived 24 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine Kyiv Post. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  5. ^ Bagaterenko, Anton (31 May 2014). "Жан Беленюк: "В Африке я слишком светлый, в Украине – слишком темный"" [Zhan Beleniuk: "In Africa I was too light, and in Ukraine — too dark"]. Tribuna.com (in Russian). Ukraine. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Жан Беленюк: "Мне не раз предлагали выступать за другие сборные, но я — украинец"". fakty.ua (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  7. ^ "The Olympic Team of Ukraine: Rio 2016: Official Handbook" (PDF). noc-ukr.org. National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. p. 28. Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2020. Беленюк Жан / Belenyuk Jean
  8. ^ "Wrestling: BELENIUK Zhan". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  9. ^ "NOC excluded Surkis, Shufrych, Shevchenko and Belenyuk from its composition". Ukrainska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Ukraine wrestler Beleniuk wins bronze, retires". ESPN.com. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  11. ^ "Wrestling Results Book" (PDF). 2024 Summer Olympics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Zelenskiy's Servant of the People party unveils candidates for parliament". Kyiv Post.
  13. ^ "First hundred candidates on Servant of the People's election list: who are they?". Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
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