Franklin Gomez

Franklin Gomez
Personal information
Surname:	Franklin Gomez Matos
Nationality:	Puerto Rico
Society:	Club Sparta, San Juan
Date of birth:	5th August 1986
Place of birth:	Puerto Plata , Dominican Republic
Size:	1.77 m
Style:	Freestyle wrestling
Weight class:	Featherweight, lightweight

Franklin Gómez Matos (born August 5, 1986 in Puerto Plata , Dominican Republic ) is a Puerto Rican wrestler . He was runner- up in free style featherweight in 2011 .

Career

Franklin Gómez grew up in Brandon , Florida , where he also lives. He started wrestling there in 1998 in high school. His first coach was Pedro Rojas. Since 2004 he has been attending Michigan State University in East Lansing (Michigan). He is also a member of the Spartan Wrestling Club and wrestles only in free style. The first major successes came in 2005 when he became the American junior bantamweight champion. In 2006 he won the US student championship and qualified for the US World Cup elimination tournament, in which he lost in the bantamweight but in the quarterfinals to Henry Cejudo . In 2008 he finished 2nd behind Daniel Dennis in the US American Student Featherweight Championship and in 2009 3rd behind Jordan Oliver and Coleman Scott.

In 2010 Franklin Gómez decided to start for Puerto Rico in the future in order to be able to take part in international championships. For this country he took 3rd place in the featherweight division at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez (Puerto Rico). At the world championship this year in Moscow, however, he lost in the featherweight division in his first fight against Malchaz Kurdiani from Georgia and only finished 20th.

2011 was a very successful year for him. In May he won the title of Pan American featherweight champion in Rionegro (Colombia) in front of Canadians Tyley Walker and Gabriel Garcia Sanchez from the Dominican Republic. In July he won the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid , where he defeated Tim Schleicher from Germany in the final . In September he started at the World Championships in Istanbul and won there over Malchaz Zarkua, Georgia, Ri Jong Myong from North Korea , Lee Seung-chul from South Korea , Selimchan Chusseinow from Azerbaijan and Dauren Shumgaziyev from Kazakhstan . In the final he lost to the multiple Russian world and Olympic champion Bessik Serodinowitsch Kuduchow by points (0: 2 rounds, 0: 5, 0: 1 points). This made him runner-up in the world championship, a great success for him. In October he finally won the Pan American Games in Guadalajara (Mexico) in front of Guillermo Torres Cervantes, Mexico , Fernando Iglesias, Argentina and Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez from Cuba .

At the Olympic Games in London in 2012, Franklin Gomez lost in his first fight against Bessik Serodinowitsch Kuduchow, whom he had defeated at the German Grand Prix in Dortmund in April 2012, just by points (1: 2 rounds, 2: 4 points). In the consolation round he met Yogeshwar Dutt from India , to whom he, somewhat demotivated, lost outright and therefore only came in 15th place.

At the 2013 World Cup in Budapest, Franklin Gomez won over Basar Basargurujew, Kyrgyzstan and Hwang Ryong-hak, North Korea, before losing to Bechan Goigerejew , Russia. Since this world champion, he was able to continue in the consolation round, in which he first defeated Andrei Perpeliță from Moldova, but then lost to Artur Alrakeljan from Armenia and thus finished 7th.

He took part in the Olympics for the second time at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro . In the quarter-finals of the lightweight he met Ixtiyor Navroʻzov from Uzbekistan . As the fight came to an end, Gómez took a step that got Navroʻzov out of the ring and initially earned Gómez two points. However, one of the judges argued against it, which is why the point went to the Uzbeks and they won the fight.

This decision was controversial from the start and caused a shit storm on the online platform Twitter . There other wrestlers like Jakob Varner , Cael Sanderson or Ben Askren wrote under the hashtag “#GomezGotRobbed” that he had been “robbed”. The former governor of Puerto Rico, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, also took part in this protest. The incumbent governor Alejandro García Padilla wrote to protest against the verdict, which he called "the theft of sport".

Shortly after the fight, at least three judges were suspended from United World Wrestling . They also claimed that an investigation would be conducted, but their decision could not be overturned. On September 3, 2016, it was announced without giving a reason that at least three judges were officially excluded from United World Wrestling.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Result
2010	3.	Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez (Puerto Rico)	feather	behind Gabriel Garcia Sanchez, Dom. Rep. And Nelson Garcia, Colombia
2010	20th	World Cup in Moscow	feather	after losing to Malchaz Kurdiani , Georgia
2010	5.	Sunkist Kids Intern. Open in Tempe (Arizona)	feather	behind Matt Valenti , Derek Moore and Drew Headlee, all USA a . Seshito Shimizu, Japan
2011	3.	Dave Schultz Memorial in Colorado Springs	feather	behind Rizvan Gadschijew, Belarus and Shogo Maeda, Japan, in front of Nick Simmons u. Reece Humphrey , both USA
2011	1.	Pan American Championships in Rionegro ( Colombia )	feather	in front of Ryley Walker, Canada , Gabriel Garcia Sanchez, Dom. Rep. And Alejandro Enrique Valdez, Cuba
2011	1.	Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid	feather	before Tim Schleicher , Germany , Agustin Sanchez Parra, Spain and Muhammet Demir, Turkey
2011	2.	World Cup in Istanbul	feather	after victories over Malchaz Zarkua , Georgia, Ri Jong Myung, North Korea , Lee Seung-chul, South Korea , Selimchan Chusseinow , Azerbaijan and Dauren Shumgasijew, Kazakhstan and a defeat against Bessik Serodinowitsch Kuduchow , Russia
2011	1.	Pan American Games in Guadalajara (Mexico)	feather	in front of Guillermo Torres Cervantes, Mexico, Fernando Iglesias, Argentina and Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez, Cuba
2012	1.	Ion Corneanu Memorial in Targoviste	feather	before Andrei Dukow, Romania and Ion Drucenschi, Moldova
2012	1.	Torneo Citta a Sassari	feather	before Salvatore Mannino and Antonio Tagliavia, both Italy
2012	1.	German Grand Prix in Dortmund	feather	before Bessik Serodinowitsch Kuduchow, Antoine Massidda, France and Haji Aliyev, Azerbaijan
2012	15th	OS in London	feather	after defeats against Bessik Serodinowitsch Kuduchow and Yogeshwar Dutt, India
2013	19th	"Ivan Yarigin" Golden Grand Prix in Krasnoyarsk	feather	Winner: Opan Sat ahead of Alexander Bagomedow, both Russia
2013	2.	Golden Grand Prix in Sassari	feather	behind Wladimer Khinchegashvili , Georgia, in front of Giorgi Edishashvili , Georgia and Erhan Bakir, Turkey
2013	1.	Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid	feather	before Nikolai Bolobnjuk, Slovakia, Sezer Akgül, Turkey and Zurab Kotjoraschwili, Georgia
2013	1.	"Wacław-Ziółkowski" Memorial in Spała	feather	before Krzysztof Bienkowski, Poland, Nikolai Aiwasjan, Ukraine and Sezer Akgül
2013	7th	World Cup in Budapest	feather	after victories over Basar Basargurujew, Kyrgyzstan and Hwang Ryong-hak, North Korea, a defeat against Bechan Goigerejew, Russia, a victory over Andrei Perpeliță, Moldova and a defeat against Artur Arakeljan, Armenia
2013	13.	Golden Grand Prix in Baku	Light	Winner: Ilyas Bekbulatow ahead of Alibeggadschi Emejew, both from Russia
2014	2.	"Dave Schultz" Memorial in Colorado Springs	up to 65 kg	behind Frank Molinaro, USA, in front of Jason Chamberlain, USA and Borislaw Novatschkow, Bulgaria
2014	1.	Dan Kolow & Nikola Petrow Memorial in Sofia	up to 65 kg	before Borislaw Novatschkow, George Bucur, Romania and Servet Coskun, Turkey

Explanations * all competitions in free style

• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Feather weight, weight class up to 60 kg, lightweight, up to 66 kg body weight (until December 31, 2013, since January 1, 2014 a new weight class classification has been in effect by the world wrestling association FILA)

literature

• Trade journal Der Ringer

Web links

• Profile of Franklin Gómez at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Franklin Gómez in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Noel Piñeiro Planas: Franklin Gómez se despide de Río 2016. August 21, 2016, accessed on June 6, 2020 (Spanish). 
2. ↑ https://caribbeanbusiness.com/garcia-padilla-vows-protest-over-theft-to-franklin-gomez/. August 23, 2016, accessed June 6, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Rio 2016: Officials suspended after 'suspicious' call involving ex-NJ wrestler. August 22, 2016, accessed June 6, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Víctor Ortiz Pillot: Expulsados los tres oficiales del combate de Franklin en Río. September 3, 2016, accessed June 6, 2020 (Spanish).