Wrestling: A majority of wrestlers saw the Tokyo Olympics as a chance to get their name etched in the golden books of the sporting extravaganza. There is a faction which thought the quadrennial extravaganza would be their last hurrah. However, the deferment of the games has forced them to push forward their retirement plans. One of them is Cuba’s Mijain Lopez.
Mijain Lopez:
The legendary Greco-Roman wrestler is eyeing to become the greatest wrestler there ever was. To achieve this god-like status, he needs to win his fourth gold medal at the Olympics which will make him the first wrestler to do so. He is currently tied with the great Aleksandr Karelin in the medal tally. But the biggest challenge he faces is not Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp or Mohamed Abdellatif of Egypt. Instead, it is his age. He is currently 38-year-old and will be 39 when the games land in Tokyo. Will he be able to surpass the age constraint to climb the podium or will he fall to wrestlers much-younger to him is a question which will be answered in 2021.
Sushil Kumar:
He is the greatest wrestler to have come out of the Indian wrestling circuit. Sushil is the only athlete who has won two Olympic medals and the first wrestler to win silver at the games. Moreover, he is the only Indian wrestler to have won the world championship title. However, he now is seeking ways to return to the Indian side. The wrestler will be vying for the 74kg spot in the national side and try to win the elusive gold medal. The Tokyo Olympics will be his last hurrah which makes the sporting extravaganza even more important.
Frank Staebler:
Three-times world champion has announced that he will be playing at his last Olympics before hanging his singlet. The German wrestler, however, will face a stiff competition from Cuba’s 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist Ismael Borrero and Russia’s Artem Surkov.
Aline Rotter-Focken:
She is probably the greatest women wrestler to have donned the German singlet. The four-times world medallist, however, said that post-Tokyo Games she will seek for new opportunities outside wrestling.
Tamas Lorincz:
The world champion is currently 33-years-old and when he travels to Tokyo he will be 34. He too is likely to retire next year. Tamas has already bagged a Olympic silver medal in his kitty and would be eyeing for the gold to make it a perfect story ending.