Shaban Tërstena
Personal information
Nationality Albanian
Citizenship North Macedonia
 Yugoslavia
Born (1965-01-01) 1 January 1965 (age 59)
Skopje, SR Macedonia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Sport
Country Yugoslavia
SportFreestyle Wrestling
Weight class48-52-57 kg
Medal record
Men's freestyle Wrestling
Representing  Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles 52 kg
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul 52 kg
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1982 Katowice 48 kg
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1982 Varna 48 kg
Silver medal – second place 1983 52 kg
Silver medal – second place 1983 52 kg
Gold medal – first place 1984 52 kg
Silver medal – second place 1985 52 kg
Silver medal – second place 1986 52 kg
Bronze medal – third place 1988 52 kg
Gold medal – first place 1990 Poznan 52 kg
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 1983 Casablanca 57 kg
Gold medal – first place 1987 Latakia 57 kg
Gold medal – first place 1991 Athena 62 kg

Shaban Tërstena (Albanian: Shaban Tërstena, Macedonian: Шабан Трстена, romanized: Šaban Trstena; born 1 January 1965)[1] is Macedonian-Yugoslavian former freestyle wrestler.

Tërstena was born in Skopje, SFR Yugoslavia and is of Albanian ethnicity. Growing up in Čair, Trstena joined the Liria Wrestling Club and was trained by notable coaches Mentaz Allajbegu and Hajrush Sinani, who had also trained notable wrestlers Shaban Sejdiu, Bajram Qorrolli, Abdulla Mehmeti, Mustaf Syla, Shend Kamberi and Adnan Elezi.[2]

Trstena won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and also won the silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.[3][4] Trstena is currently the youngest to win any wrestling gold at the Olympics, being 19 years of age at the Los Angeles Olympics.[5]

He would win in his wrestling career the 1984 European Championship and the 1990 European Wrestling Championship in Poznan. Trstena also won gold beating the then World Champion Valentin Yordanov.[6] Trstena would then win silver in 1983, 1985, 1986, and the bronze in 1982 and 1988.

In the 1982 World Wrestling Championships, Trstena reached bronze. During the three times he competed in the Mediterranean or Balkan Games, he won gold in all three. He has been pronounced the best Macedonian athlete many times and once, in 1984 the best athlete of Yugoslavia. In 2000 he has been also pronounced the best Albanian athlete of the last century. He has won 715 matches out of 741 fights. He participated in 42 tournaments in the world winning 30 gold medals, the remainder being silver and bronze. At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 he won the fifth place.

References

  1. ^ "Šaban Trstena". Olimpijski komitet Srbije. Archived from the original on 6 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Ndahet nga jeta Mentaz Allajbegu (1946 -2014)". yllpress.com. Yll Press. 19 January 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. ^ Singh, H (2004). 33 Olympic Games. Discovery Publishing House. ISBN 9788171417643.
  4. ^ Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill (2011). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7249-3.
  5. ^ Robinson, Alan (12 August 2008). "Russian teen Albiev wins 60 kg wrestling gold". Hindustan Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014.
  6. ^ "Saban Trstena v. Jordanov 1984 European Championships". YouTube.
Awards Preceded byDragutin Šurbek The Best Athlete of Yugoslavia 1984 Succeeded byDražen Petrović


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