Oleksandr Serhiyovych Darahan (also ''Oleksandr Daragan'', ; born January 19, 1978, in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

) is an amateur Ukrainian

Greco-Roman wrestler Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), or classic wrestling (Euro-English) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been i ...

, who played for the men's light heavyweight category. In 2001, Daragan had won two bronze medals for his division at the

World Wrestling Championships The World Wrestling Championships for Greco-Roman wrestling (men, since 1904) and freestyle wrestling (men since 1951, women since 1987) are organized by United World Wrestling (UWW). Unofficial editions Several World Greco-Roman Championships h ...

Patras, Greece Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

, and at the European Wrestling Championships in

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

. He is also a member of the wrestling team for Dynamo Mariupol, and is coached and trained by his father Sergey Daragan. Daragan made his official debut for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where he placed second in the preliminary pool of the men's 84 kg class, against Turkey's

Hamza Yerlikaya Hamza Yerlikaya (born June 6, 1976, in Kadıköy, Istanbul) is a Turkish Graeco-Roman style wrestler. He is a two-time (in 1996 and 2000) Olympic champion, three-time World Champion (1993, 1995, and 2005), and the first Turkish wrestler to become ...

, Bulgaria's Vladislav Metodiev, and Estonia's Tarvi Thomberg. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, Daragan competed for the second time in the men's 84 kg class. He received a bye for the preliminary round of sixteen match, before losing out to Iran's

Saman Tahmasebi Saman Tahmasebi (, born 26 July 1985) is a naturalized Azerbaijani wrestler who formerly represented his birthplace Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borde ...

, with a three-set technical score (0–4, 2–1, 0–3), and a classification point score of 1–3.

References

External links

NBC 2008 Olympics profile
* Ukrainian male sport wrestlers 1978 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Ukraine Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Dnipro World Wrestling Championships medalists 21st-century Ukrainian sportsmen {{Ukraine-wrestling-bio-stub