Zhan Vensanovych Beleniuk (; born 24 January 1991) is a Ukrainian politician and Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a three-time Olympic medalist and won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the silver medal in the Greco-Roman 85 kg at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2024 Summer Olympics. (alternate link) Beleniuk is also a two-time world champion, a three-time European champion and a European Games champion. In 2019, he became the first black member of the Ukrainian Parliament.
Early life Beleniuk was born in 1991 in Kyiv to a father from Rwanda and a mother from Ukraine. His father, a Rwandan Hutu, was a pilot who studied in Kyiv at the National Aviation University and died during the Rwandan Civil War when Beleniuk was 3 years old.Melkozerova, Veronika. (14 December 2018). Zhan Beleniuk: Champion wrestler refuses better offers abroad to stay at home: ‘I belong here’. Kyiv Post. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
Beleniuk began wrestling in 2000 when he was nine years old.
Career In 2010, Beleniuk won the silver medal at the Junior World Championships. In 2011, he became the Junior European Champion amongst, and won bronze at the World Championship. In 2012, he won the bronze medal at the European Championships. In 2013, he won bronze again at the Summer Universiade.
In 2014, he won a gold medal at the 2014 European Wrestling Championships, and bronze at the World Championships.
In 2015, he won the silver medal at the first European Games in Azerbaijan. On 10 September 2015, after winning against the then-reigning World Champion and then-Champion of Asia, Uzbek Rustam Assakalov scoring 6:0, Beleniuk won gold at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in the under-85 kg weight category.
In 2016, he won gold at the 2016 European Wrestling Championships, followed by the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2021, he won the gold medal in the men's Greco-Roman 87 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Beleniuk was briefly a member of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. He left the National Olympic Committee in January 2023 due to disagreement with its new president Vadym Gutzeit. In 2024, Beleniuk won a bronze medal in the men's Greco-Roman 87 kg at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and subsequently retired from competing.
Politics Beleniuk was elected a deputy to the Verkhovna Rada in July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of the Servant of the People political party. He was one of the first ten candidates on the party's electoral list.
Achievements YearTournamentVenueResultEvent2007European Cadet Championships Warsaw, Poland2ndGreco-Roman 76 kg2008European Cadet Championships Daugavpils, Latvia3rdGreco-Roman 76 kg2010European Junior Championships Samokov, Bulgaria10thGreco-Roman 84 kgWorld Junior Championships Budapest, Hungary3rdGreco-Roman 84 kg2011European Junior Championships Zrenjanin, Serbia1stGreco-Roman 84 kgWorld Junior Championships Bucharest, Romania2ndGreco-Roman 84 kg2012European Championships Belgrade, Serbia3rdGreco-Roman 84 kg2013European Championships Tbilisi, Georgia8thGreco-Roman 84 kgSummer Universiade Kazan, Russia3rdGreco-Roman 84 kg2014European Championships Vantaa, Finland1stGreco-Roman 85 kgWorld Championships Tashkent, Uzbekistan3rdGreco-Roman 85 kg2015European Games Baku, Azerbaijan2ndGreco-Roman 85 kgWorld Championships Las Vegas, United States1stGreco-Roman 85 kgMilitary World Games Mungyeong, South Korea1stGreco-Roman 85 kg2016European Championships Riga, Latvia1stGreco-Roman 85 kgOlympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil2ndGreco-Roman 85 kg2018World Championships Budapest, Hungary2ndGreco-Roman 87 kg2019European Championships Bucharest, Romania1stGreco-Roman 87 kgEuropean Games Minsk, Belarus1stGreco-Roman 87 kgWorld Championships Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan1stGreco-Roman 87 kg2021European Championships Warsaw, Poland3rdGreco-Roman 87 kgOlympic Games Tokyo, Japan1stGreco-Roman 87 kg2023World Championships Belgrade, Serbia3rdGreco-Roman 87 kg2024European Championships Bucharest, Romania 3rdGreco-Roman 87kgOlympic Games Paris, France 3rdGreco-Roman 87 kg
International competition
! colspan="8"| International record |- ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location ! Notes |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Viktor Lőrincz |style="font-size:88%"|5–1 |style="font-size:88%"|2021-08-04 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2020 Summer Olympics |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Tokyo, Japan |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Ivan Huklek |style="font-size:88%"|7–1 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|2021-08-03 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Bachir Sid Azara |style="font-size:88%"|1–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Zurab Datunashvili |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |3–1 |align=left| Denis Kudla |style="font-size:88%"|1–1 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2|2021-04-24 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2021 European Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Warsaw, Poland |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–1 |align=left| Vjekoslav Luburić |style="font-size:88%"|7–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Loss |1–1 |align=left| Zurab Datunashvili |style="font-size:88%"|1–1 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2|2021-04-23 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Oskar Johansson |style="font-size:88%"|7–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"|
! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |5–0 |align=left| Viktor Lőrincz |style="font-size:88%"|2–1 |style="font-size:88%"|2019-09-16 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2019 World Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5| Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Denis Kudla |style="font-size:88%"|2–1 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2019-09-15 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Mikalai Stadub |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Ivan Huklek |style="font-size:88%"|7–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Alfonso Leyva |style="font-size:88%"|5–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Islam Abbasov |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="font-size:88%"|2019-06-30 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2019 European Games |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Minsk, Belarus |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Radzik Kuliyeu |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|2019-06-29 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Arkadiusz Kułynycz |style="font-size:88%"|9–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Maksim Manukyan |style="font-size:88%"|5–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Islam Abbasov |style="font-size:88%"|5–1 |style="font-size:88%"|2019-04-13 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2019 European Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Bucharest, Romania |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Eividas Stankevičius |style="font-size:88%"|5–1 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|2019-04-12 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Erik Szilvássy |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Ivan Huklek |style="font-size:88%"|6–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Loss |4–1 |align=left| Metehan Başar |style="font-size:88%"|1–2 |style="font-size:88%"|2018-10-27 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2018 World Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5| Budapest, Hungary |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Islam Abbasov |style="font-size:88%"|5–1 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2018-10-26 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Hossein Nouri |style="font-size:88%"|4–2 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Artur Shahinyan |style="font-size:88%"|4–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Eividas Stankevičius |style="font-size:88%"|4–2 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Loss |3–1 |align=left| Davit Chakvetadze |style="font-size:88%"|2-9 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2016-08-15 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2016 Summer Olympics |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Rio de Janeiro |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Javid Hamzatau |style="font-size:88%"|6–0 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Nikolay Bayryakov |style="font-size:88%"|10–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Ahmed Othman |style="font-size:88%"|9–0 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Roberti Kobliashvili |style="font-size:88%"|5–2 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2016-03-13 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|European Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Riga, Latvia |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Laimutis Adomaitis |style="font-size:88%"|2–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Denis Kudla |style="font-size:88%"|6–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Kristofer Johansson |style="font-size:88%"|5–0 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |6–0 |align=left| Rustam Assakalov |style="font-size:88%"|6–0 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6|2015-09-09 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6|2015 World Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=6| Las Vegas, NV |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |5–0 |align=left| Saman Tahmasebi |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Damian Janikowski |style="font-size:88%"|2–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Viktor Lőrincz |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Ramsin Azizsir |style="font-size:88%"|3–0 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Alfonso Leyva |style="font-size:88%"|6–2 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Loss |4–1 |align=left| Davit Chakvetadze |style="font-size:88%"|2–3 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2015-06-14 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2015 European Games |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5| Baku, Azerbaijan |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |4–0 |align=left| Maksim Manukyan |style="font-size:88%"|12–4 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |3–0 |align=left| Metehan Başar |style="font-size:88%"|3–1 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |2–0 |align=left| Attila Tamas |style="font-size:88%"|7–0 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win |1–0 |align=left| Dejan Franjković |style="font-size:88%"|8–0 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |Win |4–1 |align=left| Ramsin Azizsir |style="font-size:88%"|3–0 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2014-09-12 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2014 World Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5| Tashkent, Uzbekistan |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Loss |3–1 |align=left| Saman Tahmasebi |style="font-size:88%"|0–4 |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| |- |Win