# Zhan Beleniuk

Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk (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.

## Early life

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

## Career

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

### Politics

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. He was one of the first ten candidates on the party's electoral list.

## Achievements

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

## International competition

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