Zhan Beleniuk
Zhan Beleniuk | |
---|---|
![]() Beleniuk with his gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics | |
Member of the Ukrainian Parliament for Servant of the People | |
Assumed office July 2019 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyiv, Ukraine) | 24 January 1991
Sports career | |
Full name | Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk |
Nationality | Ukrainian |
Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) |
Weight | 85 kg (187 lb) |
Sport | Wrestling |
Event | Greco-Roman |
Club | Spartak Kyiv |
Coached by | Vitalyj Kisilisa Aleksej Dobrovolskyj Oleg Sazonov |
Medal record | |
Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk (Ukrainian: Жан Венсанович Беленюк; also transliterated Jean Vensanovich Belenyuk; born 24 January 1991) is a Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler and politician. In 2019, he became the first black member of the Ukrainian Parliament.[1][2]
Early life
Beleniuk was born in 1991 in Kyiv to a father from Rwanda. His father was a pilot who studied in Kyiv at the National Aviation University and died during the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.[3]
Beleniuk began wrestling in 2000 when he was nine years old.[4]
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,[5] 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 then the ruling World Champion and then Champion of Asia, Uzbek Rustam Assakalov scoring 6:0, Beleniuk won gold at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in 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.[6]
In 2021, he won a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[7]
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.[8] He was one of the first ten candidates on the party's electoral list.[9]
Achievements
World and olympic records
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Ukrainian_Independence_Day_2019_01.jpg/220px-Ukrainian_Independence_Day_2019_01.jpg)
See also
References
- ^ "Чи пройшла Україна "тест Чепурного", реагуючи на першого темношкірого кандидата у депутати Жана Беленюка". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ "Монобільшість Зе, бюджетні гроші для Шарія та перший темношкірий депутат. 7 "вперше" виборів у Раду | Громадське телебачення". hromadske.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ Melkozerova, Veronika. (14 December 2018). Zhan Beleniuk: Champion wrestler refuses better offers abroad to stay at home: ‘I belong here’. Archived 24 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine Kyiv Post. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ^ Bagaterenko, Anton (31 May 2014). "Жан Беленюк: "В Африке я слишком светлый, в Украине – слишком темный"" [Zhan Beleniuk: "In Africa I was too light, and in Ukraine — too dark"]. Tribuna.com (in Russian). Ukraine. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ^ "Жан Беленюк: "Мне не раз предлагали выступать за другие сборные, но я — украинец"". fakty.ua. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ "The Olympic Team of Ukraine: Rio 2016: Official Handbook" (PDF). noc-ukr.org. National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. p. 28. Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
Беленюк Жан / Belenyuk Jean
- ^ "Wrestling: BELENIUK Zhan". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
- ^ "Zelenskiy's Servant of the People party unveils candidates for parliament". Kyiv Post.
- ^ "First hundred candidates on Servant of the People's election list: who are they?". Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- Zhan Beleniuk at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Zhan Belenyuk at United World Wrestling
- Zhan Beleniuk at Olympics.com
- Zhan Beleniuk at Olympedia
- Jean Vensanovich Beleniuk at Verkhovna Rada (in Ukrainian)
- 1991 births
- Living people
- Ukrainian male sport wrestlers
- Olympic wrestlers of Ukraine
- Olympic silver medalists for Ukraine
- Olympic medalists in wrestling
- Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- World Wrestling Championships medalists
- Universiade medalists in wrestling
- Universiade bronze medalists for Ukraine
- European Games gold medalists for Ukraine
- European Games silver medalists for Ukraine
- European Games medalists in wrestling
- Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games
- Wrestlers at the 2019 European Games
- Sportspeople from Kyiv
- Interregional Academy of Personnel Management alumni
- National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport alumni
- Ukrainian people of Rwandan descent
- Hutu people
- Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class
- Servant of the People (political party) politicians
- Ukrainian sportsperson-politicians
- Ninth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada
- 21st-century Ukrainian politicians
- European Wrestling Championships medalists
- Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade
- Wrestlers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for Ukraine