Former Trojan medals in Tokyo

(all images via colbytrojans.com)

Former Colby Community College two-time NJCAA All-American wrestler Bekzod Abdurakhmonov won a bronze medal for his home country of Uzbekistan Thursday at the Tokyo Olympics. At 74 kilograms, Abdurakhmonov topped two-seed Daniyar Kaisano of Kazakhstan in a 13-2 decision.

It was Abdurakhmonov’s second chance at Olympic bronze after falling short at the 2016 Rio Games. He beat former gold medalist Jordan Burroughs of the United States, 11-1, but lost in the medal match to Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan. 

Abdurakhmonov attended CCC from 2008 to 2010. He grew up in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, before arriving in Colby to compete under Hall of Fame coach Steve Lampe. Abdurakhmonov had an 84-8 record on his way to two NJCAA runner-up finishes. After graduating, he transferred to Clarion University and went 38-12 his senior year while earning All-American honors.

Abdurakhmonov has performed well on the big stage for several years. He claimed gold at the 2014 Asian Freestyle Wrestling Championships and bronze at the 2014 World Freestyle Wrestling Championships. After his appearance in the 2016 Olympics, he returned to the Asian Wrestling Championships in 2017 and won gold again.

Lampe said he’s not surprised by his success.

“For 10 years, Bekzod has been a world-level contender internationally,” he said. “He was always a team leader.”

In 2019, Abdurakhmonov and his brother, two-time NJCAA national champion and Division I All-American Muzzafar Abdurakhmanov, were inducted into the CCC Hall of Fame.

“I am very proud to have had the honor to coach such great people and student-athletes. They are unquestionably exceptional in every regard. I’m just glad that I had the opportunity to be their coach and the guy who helped get them started on their successful careers,” Lampe concluded.