Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez becomes first athlete in history to win 5 consecutive Olympics gold medal

Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez became the first athlete in history to win five consecutive individual Olympic gold medals in the same event with victory in the 130kg Greco-Roman category.

Lopez, who turns 42 in two weeks, defeated Chile's Yasmani Acosta to take the record outright.

He previously held the title jointly with four-time successive winners Carl Lewis (athletics/long jump), Michael Phelps (swimming/200m medley), Katie Ledecky (swimming/800m freestyle), Al Oerter (athletics/discus), Paul Elvstrom (sailing) and Kaori Icho (wrestling).

Having come out of retirement after a three-year absence from the mat, Lopez beat world champion Amin Mirzazadeh in the quarter-finals before beating the Cuban-born Acosta.

He has lost just one of his 23 contests at the Olympics, in the quarter-finals of the 2004 Athens Games. Meanwhile, the United States of America has again taken the lead in the official Paris Olympics medal tally with 24 gold, 31 silver and 31 bronze while China slips to second place with 22 gold, 21 silver and 16 bronze. Australia is still in 3rd place with 14 gold, 12 silver and 9 bronze and hosts France are still in 4th place with 13 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze.

Source: BBC Sports