Cuba’s Lopez tops Baroev for Greco gold

Published 9:27 am Thursday, August 14, 2008

BEIJING — Cuba’s Mijain Lopez, the dominant big man in Greco-Roman wrestling since the Athens Olympics, beat his chief rival, Khasan Baroev of Russia, to win the 120-kilogram gold medal.

Lopez, a world champion in every year except one since Athens, tossed 2004 gold medalist Baroev for a 5-point move in the first period Thursday, then won the second period 1-1 on tiebreaker under the best-of-three format.

Baroev has won only one world title since 2004 and has been supplanted by Lopez as the premier super heavyweight. They are the only two wrestlers to win the weight class over the past five years.

Winning the bronzes were Mindaugas Mizgaitis of Lithuania and Yuri Patriekeev of Armenia.