Zhan Beleniuk

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]

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Vensanovych and the family name is 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 (1991-01-24) 24 January 1991
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Kyiv, Ukraine)
Sports career
Full nameZhan Vensanovych Beleniuk
NationalityUkrainian
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight85 kg (187 lb)
SportWrestling
Event(s)Greco-Roman
ClubSpartak Kyiv
Coached byVitalyj Kisilisa
Aleksej Dobrovolskyj
Oleg Sazonov
Medal record
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling
Representing  Ukraine
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2020 Tokyo 87 kg
Silver medal – second place2016 Rio de Janeiro85 kg
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2015 Las Vegas85 kg
Gold medal – first place2019 Nur-Sultan87 kg
Silver medal – second place2018 Budapest87 kg
Bronze medal – third place2014 Tashkent85 kg
Bronze medal – third place2023 Belgrade87 kg
European Championships
Gold medal – first place2014 Vantaa85 kg
Gold medal – first place2016 Riga85 kg
Gold medal – first place2019 Bucharest87 kg
Bronze medal – third place2012 Belgrade84 kg
Bronze medal – third place2021 Warsaw87 kg
European Games
Gold medal – first place2019 Minsk87 kg
Silver medal – second place2015 Baku85 kg
Summer Universiade
Bronze medal – third place2013 Kazan84 kg

Early life

Beleniuk was born in 1991 in Kyiv to a father from Rwanda and a mother from Ukraine. His father was a pilot who studied in Kyiv at the National Aviation University and died during the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda when Beleniuk was 3 years old.[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]

Beleniuk was briefly a member of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. He left the National Olympic Committee in January 2023 due to disagreement with its new President Vadym Gutzeit.[8]

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.[9] He was one of the first ten candidates on the party's electoral list.[10]

Achievements
Year Tournament Venue Result Event
2007 European Cadet Championships Poland Warsaw, Poland 2nd Greco-Roman 76 kg
2008 European Cadet Championships Latvia Daugavpils, Latvia 3rd Greco-Roman 76 kg
2010 European Junior Championships Bulgaria Samokov, Bulgaria 10th Greco-Roman 84 kg
World Junior Championships Hungary Budapest, Hungary 3rd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2011 European Junior Championships Serbia Zrenjanin, Serbia 1st Greco-Roman 84 kg
World Junior Championships Romania Bucharest, Romania 2nd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2012 European Championships Serbia Belgrade, Serbia 3rd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2013 European Championships Georgia (country) Tbilisi, Georgia 8th Greco-Roman 84 kg
Summer Universiade Russia Kazan, Russia 3rd Greco-Roman 84 kg
2014 European Championships Finland Vantaa, Finland 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
World Championships Uzbekistan Tashkent, Uzbekistan 3rd Greco-Roman 85 kg
2015 European Games Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan 2nd Greco-Roman 85 kg
World Championships United States Las Vegas, United States 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
Military World Games South Korea Mungyeong, South Korea 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
2016 European Championships Latvia Riga, Latvia 1st Greco-Roman 85 kg
Olympic Games Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2nd Greco-Roman 85 kg
2018 World Championships Hungary Budapest, Hungary 2nd Greco-Roman 87 kg
2019 European Championships Romania Bucharest, Romania 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
European Games Belarus Minsk, Belarus 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
World Championships Kazakhstan Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
2021 European Championships Poland Warsaw, Poland 3rd Greco-Roman 87 kg
Olympic Games Japan Tokyo, Japan 1st Greco-Roman 87 kg
2023 World Championships Serbia Belgrade, Serbia 3rd Greco-Roman 87 kg

World and olympic records
Beleniuk with President Volodymyr Zelensky in August 2019.

See also

References
  1. Штогрін, Ірина (11 June 2019). "Чи пройшла Україна "тест Чепурного", реагуючи на першого темношкірого кандидата у депутати Жана Беленюка". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  2. "Монобільшість Зе, бюджетні гроші для Шарія та перший темношкірий депутат. 7 "вперше" виборів у Раду | Громадське телебачення". hromadske.ua (in Ukrainian). 22 July 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. "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.
  6. "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
  7. "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.
  8. "NOC excluded Surkis, Shufrych, Shevchenko and Belenyuk from its composition". Ukrainska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  9. "Zelenskiy's Servant of the People party unveils candidates for parliament". Kyiv Post.
  10. "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.
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