Ernesto Peña

Ernesto Peña Williams (born October 8, 1978 in Nueva Gerona) is a retired amateur Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's heavyweight category.[1] He won the gold medal in the 96-kg division at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and was later selected to the Cuban team for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[2] Throughout his sporting career, Pena trained for the wrestling team at Cerro Pelado Sports Club in Havana, under his personal coach and mentor Carlos Ulacia.

Ernesto Peña
Personal information
Full nameErnesto Peña Williams
Nationality Cuba
Born (1978-10-08) 8 October 1978
Nueva Gerona, Cuba
Height1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Weight96 kg (212 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleGreco-Roman
ClubCerro Pelado
CoachCarlos Ulacia
Medal record
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling
Representing  Cuba
World Championships
2001 Patras96 kg
Pan American Games
2003 Santo Domingo96 kg

Pena emerged himself into the global scene at the 2001 World Wrestling Championships in Patras, Greece, where he picked up a silver medal on his first ever final match against Russia's Aleksandr Bezruchkin.[3] He continued to reach the summit of the world rankings, by finishing fourth at the 2002 World Wrestling Championships in Moscow, Russia, and by overpowering U.S. wrestler Justin Ruiz to snatch the heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling title at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[2][4]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Pena qualified for the Cuban team in the men's 96 kg class by receiving a berth from the first Olympic Qualification Tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro.[5] In the preliminary pool, Pena upset U.S. wrestler and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Garrett Lowney on his opening bout, and then threw out Hungary's Lajos Virág into the ring for a spot in the quarterfinals.[6][7] Pena suffered his major defeat from Turkey's Mehmet Özal in the quarterfinal match on the next day's session, but offered a chance to redeem himself in the ring by ousting Kyrgyzstan's Gennady Chkhaidze for a fifth place finish. When Iran's Masoud Hashemzadeh was disqualified for a bronze medal protest, Pena uplifted his position to fourth, and nearly missed out the podium.[8]

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ernesto Peña". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  2. "Los cubanos se llevan todo el oro de la lucha grecorromana panamericana" [Cubans take all the gold in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Pan American Games] (in Spanish). Cuba Encuentro. 3 August 2003. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  3. "Gardner beats two-time bronze medalist Saldadse". ESPN. 8 December 2001. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  4. "Panamericanos: Cuba arrasa en la lucha con siete oros" [Pan American Games: Cuba sweeps the fight with seven golds] (in Spanish). Emol Deportes. 3 August 2003. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  5. Abbott, Gary (27 July 2004). "Olympic Games preview at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. in men's Greco-Roman". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  6. "Gardner thrown in OT, loses bid for repeat wrestling gold". ESPN. 25 August 2004. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  7. Abbott, Gary (25 August 2004). "Gardner to compete in bronze-medal match in Greco-Roman Olympic Wrestling; Gruenwald wins opening bout". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  8. "Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 96kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2013.


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