Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk[a] (Ukrainian:Жан Венсанович Беленюк; born 24 January 1991) is a Ukrainian politician and retiredGreco-Roman wrestler. He is a three-timeOlympic medalist and won the gold medal in theGreco-Roman 87 kg at the2020 Summer Olympics, the silver medal in theGreco-Roman 85 kg at the2016 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal in theGreco-Roman 87 kg at the2024 Summer Olympics. Beleniuk is also a two-timeworld champion, a three-timeEuropean champion and aEuropean Games champion. In 2019, he became the firstblack member of theUkrainian Parliament.[1][2][3]
Beleniuk was born in 1991 inKyiv to a father fromRwanda and a mother fromUkraine. His father was a pilot who studied in Kyiv at theNational Aviation University and died during thegenocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda when Beleniuk was 3 years old.[4]
Beleniuk began wrestling in 2000 when he was nine years old.[5]
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 theEuropean Championships. In 2013, he won bronze again at the Summer Universiade.
In 2014, he won a gold medal at the2014 European Wrestling Championships,[6] and bronze at the World Championships.
In 2015, he won the silver medal at thefirst European Games inAzerbaijan. On 10 September 2015, after winning against the then-reigning World Champion and then-Champion of Asia, UzbekRustam Assakalov scoring 6:0, Beleniuk won gold at the2015 World Wrestling Championships in the under-85 kg weight category.
In 2016, he won gold at the2016 European Wrestling Championships, followed by the silver medal at the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro.[7]
In 2021, he won the gold medal in themen's Greco-Roman 87 kg event at the2020 Summer Olympics inTokyo.[8]
Beleniuk was briefly a member of theNational Olympic Committee of Ukraine. He left the National Olympic Committee in January 2023 due to disagreement with its new presidentVadym Gutzeit.[9] In 2024, Beleniuk won a bronze medal in themen's Greco-Roman 87 kg at the2024 Summer Olympics inParis and subsequently retired from competing.[10][11]
Beleniuk was elected a deputy to theVerkhovna Rada in July2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of theServant of the People political party.[12] He was one of the first ten candidates on the party's electoral list.[13]
| 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 |
| World Junior Championships |  Budapest, Hungary | 3rd | Greco-Roman 84 kg | |
| 2011 | European Junior Championships |  Zrenjanin, Serbia | 1st | Greco-Roman 84 kg |
| 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 |
| Summer Universiade |  Kazan, Russia | 3rd | Greco-Roman 84 kg | |
| 2014 | European Championships |  Vantaa, Finland | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg |
| World Championships |  Tashkent, Uzbekistan | 3rd | Greco-Roman 85 kg | |
| 2015 | European Games |  Baku, Azerbaijan | 2nd | Greco-Roman 85 kg |
| World Championships |  Las Vegas, United States | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg | |
| Military World Games |  Mungyeong, South Korea | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg | |
| 2016 | European Championships | Riga, Latvia | 1st | Greco-Roman 85 kg |
| 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 |
| European Games |  Minsk, Belarus | 1st | Greco-Roman 87 kg | |
| World Championships |  Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan | 1st | Greco-Roman 87 kg | |
| 2021 | European Championships | Warsaw, Poland | 3rd | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
| 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 |
| Olympic Games |  Paris, France | 3rd | Greco-Roman 87 kg |
| International record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Score | Date | Event | Location | Notes | |
2021Olympic 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 | ||||
| Win | 2–0 |  Bachir Sid Azara | 1–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Zurab Datunashvili | 3–1 | |||||
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 | |||||
| Loss | 1–1 | Zurab Datunashvili | 1–1 | 2021-04-23 | ||||
| Win | 1–0 |  Oskar Johansson | 7–1 | |||||
| 2019World 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 | ||||
| Win | 3–0 | Mikalai Stadub | 3–1 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 | Ivan Huklek | 7–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 |  Alfonso Leyva | 5–1 | |||||
| 2019European 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 | ||||
| Win | 2–0 | Arkadiusz Kułynycz | 9–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 |  Maksim Manukyan | 5–1 | |||||
| 2019European 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 | ||||
| Win | 2–0 | Erik Szilvássy | 3–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Ivan Huklek | 6–1 | |||||
2018UWW 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 | ||||
| Win | 3–0 |  Hossein Nouri | 4–2 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 | Artur Shahinyan | 4–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Eividas Stankevičius | 4–2 | |||||
| 2016Olympic 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 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 | Nikolay Bayryakov | 10–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 |  Ahmed Othman | 9–0 | |||||
| 2016European Champion at 85kg | ||||||||
| Win | 4–0 | Roberti Kobliashvili | 5–2 | 2016-03-13 | European Championships | Riga,Latvia | ||
| Win | 3–0 | Laimutis Adomaitis | 2–1 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 | Denis Kudla | 6–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Kristofer Johansson | 5–0 | |||||
| 2015UWW 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 | |||||
| Win | 4–0 | Damian Janikowski | 2–1 | |||||
| Win | 3–0 | Viktor Lőrincz | 3–1 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 | Ramsin Azizsir | 3–0 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Alfonso Leyva | 6–2 | |||||
| 2015European 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 | |||||
| Win | 3–0 | Metehan Başar | 3–1 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 | Attila Tamas | 7–0 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Dejan Franjković | 8–0 | |||||
| 2014UWW 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 | |||||
| Win | 3–0 | Ahmed Othman | 10–1 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 |  Pablo Shorey | 6–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Rami Hietaniemi | 1–0 | |||||
| 2013Summer 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 | |||||
| Win | 3–0 | Beka Rokva | 3–1 | |||||
| Win | 2–0 | Tadeusz Michalik | 3–1 | |||||
| Win | 1–0 | Aslan Atem | 3–1 | |||||
Беленюк Жан / Belenyuk Jean
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| Archery | |
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| Artistic swimming | |
| Athletics |
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| Badminton | |
| Boxing | |
| Breaking | |
| Canoeing | |
| Cycling | |
| Diving | |
| Fencing | |
| Football | |
| Gymnastics | |
| Judo | |
| Modern pentathlon | |
| Rowing | |
| Shooting | |
| Sport climbing | |
| Swimming | |
| Table tennis | |
| Tennis | |
| Weightlifting | |
| Wrestling | |
Medalist is shown inbold and flagbearer initalics. | |
