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Double Gold

Cuba’s Filiberto Azcuy won the Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, a remarkable feat for an athlete coming from a country where Greco-Roman wrestling was only just developing at the time. Azcuy surprised the welterweight (74 kg [163 lb]) class by outscoring opponents 38-10 on his way to claiming the gold. By 2000, Azcuy was a known quantity on the world wrestling stage. Yet at the Olympic Games in Sydney, he was able to win with ease, this time at 69 kg (152 lbs). It was a series of dominating performances by Azcuy, who surrendered just five points to opponents while scoring 40 in the tournament. He capped his remarkable run by having the gold medal match stopped due to a superior technical performance when he built an 11-0 lead in the first period over his outmatched opponent.

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