The Georgian freestyle -130 kg wrestler faced Iran's Amir Zare in the final. Petriashvili lost to Turkiye's Taha Akgyul in Rio and was beaten by USA's Gable Stevenson in Tokyo five years later. Steveson quit Olympic wrestling, Akgyul lost to Zare in the semi-finals in Paris, but Petriashvili was still the underdog in the final.

His opponent Zare defeated him in the final of the 2023 World Championships but this time the 30-year-old Petriashvili was better prepared scoring ten points to his opponent's one in the first round. Zare was on the verge of an epic comeback in the second round but was unable to overcome the deficit and Petriashvili won 10-9 to claim the gold medal.

The bronze medals went to Akgyul and Giorgi Meshvildishvili of Azerbaijan. Former Russian Razambek Jamalov, representing Uzbekistan, won the gold medal in the men's freestyle -74kg category. 

Jamalov defeated tournament sensation Daichi Takatani of Japan 5-0. Takatani caused the biggest upset of the tournament when he defeated USA's Kyle Dake in the semi-finals, but was beaten by Jamalov in the final. 

Dake won his third place match against Hetik Cabolov of Serbia to claim his second Olympic bronze. Chemren Valiev of Albania defeated Viktor Rassadin of Tajikistan to win his own bronze medal.

The day was much better for another Japanese athlete Sakura Motoki who defeated Ukraine's Iryna Koliadenko by technical superiority in the final of the women's -62kg final. 

2023 World champion Aisuulu Tynybekova took the Olympic bronze by defeating Mongolia's Orkhon Purovdorj. Three-time European champion Grace Bullen took the other bronze medal.

Semifinals

The preliminaries and semi-finals of the last three weight categories were held before the finals.

Japan's Kotaro Kiyooka and Iran's Rahman Amouzadkhali "survived" in the men's -65kg category, where at least 8 wrestlers were real contenders for the gold medal.

Kiyooka, who had overscored reigning Olympic champion Takuto Otoguro in the national trials, defeated 2023 World runner-up Sebastian Rivera (Puerto Rico) in the quarter-finals and 2021 World bronze medallist Tolga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia in the semi-finals. The Mongolian had previously eliminated World N1 Vazgen Tevanyan (Armenia) in the quarter-finals.

The 2022 World Champion Amouzadkhali defeated the 2023 World Champion Ismail Muszukajev from Hungary in the semi-finals with technical superiority and will wrestle Kiyoota on 11 August. 

Amouzadkhali had previously eliminated 2023 World -70kg champion Zane Retherford (USA) and 2024 European champion Islam Dudaev (Albania).

The 2023 World Champion, Akhmed Tazhudinov of Bahrain, had some tough opponents but managed to win three matches to reach the final. He beat Iran's Amirali Azarpira 4-3 in the first round and USA's Kyle Snyder 6-4 in the semi-final. 

Tazhudinov made a fantastic debut at the 2023 World Veterans Championships and is now on course to win the first Olympic gold of his career.

He will face Georgia's Givi Matcharashvili in the final. The Georgian defeated Azerbaijan's Magomedkhan Magomedov in the semi-finals.

The USA and Japan will meet again in the final of the women's -76kg category. Kenedy Blades defeated Kyrgyzstan's Aiperi Medet Kyzy in a close battle, while 2023 World Champion Yuka Kagami beat Colombia's Tatiana Renteria 4-2. Blades and Kagami will fight for Olympic gold on 11 August.