Wilfredo Rodríguez bathed in gold in Beach Wrestling at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar 2026

Published at: 09/11/2026 09:20 AM

Wilfredo Rodríguez won the gold medal, in Beach Wrestling, in the 60 kg category, at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar 2026.

The Venezuelan won the gold after beating the Iranian El Amirali Domirkola 4-0, who had to settle for the silver medal.

In the first fight, the Venezuelan barely needed 18 seconds to lift the Namibian Shithigona Shipopyeni by the legs and project him backwards to the sand outside the combat circle, which gave him his first 3-0 win.

Nor did it take long to knock out Ivorian Namon Coulibaly, who he reduced 3-0 in 19 seconds with a quick grip to push him out of the battle area.

The third match did not have to take place because the Greek Ioannis Kesidis withdrew from the competition. So the Venezuelan advanced straight to the semifinals to face Senegalese Babacar Mbaye, who had won all three of his duels while also exhibiting an abysmal superiority.

Mbaye scored a first point, the only one awarded by Rodríguez in the entire competition. The Venezuelan equalized and then sealed the victory after 44 seconds, when the African tried to get him out of the circle, but the Venezuelan made a quick and powerful turn with his hip, pushing his opponent until he knocked him down on the back and was left with the pass to the grand final.

For Venezuelan wrestling, it was the first gold medal in any modality in the history of the Youth Olympic Games and the third gold medal for our country in four editions.

The previous two had been provided by the judoka María Giménez (-44 kg) and the weightlifter Katherine Echandia (44 kg) in the Buenos Aires 2018 edition.

For her part, Ester Oyola (75 kg), the female representative in the beach fight, was eliminated in the group stage after winning two fights and losing one.

In her first match, she beat Mexico's María Paz 3-0, then she dominated Serbia's Kata Seregi by the same score and finally yielded 0-3 to China's Zhao Min, the ultimate champion of the category, who knocked her out of the championship.

Oyola placed sixth and was awarded an Olympic diploma for being among the top eight in the standings.

Mazo News Team