Jaime Yusept Espinal

Jaime Yusept Espinal, 2018

Jaime Yusept Espinal (born October 14, 1984 in Santo Domingo ( Dominican Republic )) is a Puerto Rican wrestler . He won at the Olympic Games 2012 in London a silver medal in free style in the middleweight division .

Career

Jaime Yusept Espinal was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Soon after, his parents moved to Puerto Rico , where they received citizenship of that country. Jaime came to wrestle there in 1994. It is now owned by the Sparta Bayamón au sports club and is coached by Pedro Rojas. He is 1.78 meters tall, weighs approximately 85 kg and is a student at the University of Puerto Rico.

Jaime Espinal is a late starter on the international wrestling mat. He played his first international competition at the age of 23 at the 2007 World Championships in Baku in the welterweight division . He had to pay a lot of hard money, retired after defeats against Machach Murtasalijew from Russia and Krystian Brzozowski , Poland and only finished 27th.

In the following three years he was able to win a medal at the Pan American Championships. In 2008 he finished 3rd in Colorado Springs, 3rd in Maracaibo in 2009 and 2nd in Monterrey in 2010 .

However, he was less successful at the World Championships. In 2009 he came in 9th place in Herning / Denmark and defeated Miroslaw Geschew from Bulgaria and Theodossios Pawlidis from Greece in the middleweight division . In 2010 he retired in Moscow after a defeat against Ibragim Aldatow from Ukraine after the first round and ended up in 19th place. In 2011 in Istanbul he achieved two more victories. He beat Pürweegiin Ösöchbaatar from Mongolia and Radoslaw Marcinkiewicz from Poland , but then lost to Armands Zvirbulis from Latvia and finished in 11th place.

After Jaime Espinal failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 , he did so in 2012 with a 2nd place behind Humberto Arencibia Martinez, Cuba at the tournament in Kissimmee, Orlando / USA. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London , he then showed his best performance in his wrestling career so far. There he defeated Andrew Adibo Dick from Nigeria , Dato Marsagishvili from Georgia and Soslan Gattsijew from Belarus and thus faced the 2011 world champion Sharif Sharifov from Azerbaijan , against whom he had no chance and lost on points. But winning the Olympic silver medal is a great success for him. It was the first ever international championship medal for a Puerto Rican wrestler to win.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
2007	26th	World Cup in Baku	Welter	after defeats against Makhach Murtasalijew , Russia and Krystian Brzozowski , Poland
2008	3.	Pan American Championship in Colorado Springs	Welter	behind Iván Fundora Zaldívar , Cuba and Casey Cunningham, USA
2008	16.	Olympic qualification tournament in Martigny / Switzerland	Welter	Winner: Soslan Tigijew , Uzbekistan ahead of Ashgar Ali Bazrighaleh, Iran
2008	24.	Olympic qualification tournament in Warsaw	Welter	Winner: Arsen Gitinow , Kyrgyzstan ahead of Ahmet Gülhan , Turkey
2009	3.	Pan American Championship in Maracaibo	medium	behind Reineri Salas Perez , Cuba and Eric Luedke, USA
2009	9.	World Cup in Herning / Denmark	medium	after victories over Miroslaw Geschew , Bulgaria and Theodossios Pawlidis, Greece
2010	2.	Pan American Championship in Monterrey	medium	behind Reineri Salas Perez, in front of Jose Daniel Diaz Robertti, Venezuela and Donald Brown, Canada
2010	1.	Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez	medium	before Jorlys Ariel Mosquera, Colombia and Jose Alberto Diaz, Venezuela
2010	19th	World Cup in Moscow	medium	after losing to Ibragim Aldatov , Ukraine
2011	4th	Dave Schultz Memorial International in Colorado Springs	medium	behind Omargadschi Magomedow, Belarus, Keith Gavin, USA and Atsushi Matsumoto, Japan
2011	5.	Pan American Championship in Rionegro (Colombia)	medium	behind Jose Albert Diaz, Keith Gavin, Jeff Adamson, Canada and Humberto Arencibia Martinez, Cuba
2011	3.	Ion Corneanu Memorial in Târgovişte	medium	behind Cael Sanderson , USA and Dianis Balaur, Moldova
2011	11.	World Cup in Istanbul	medium	after victories over Pürweegiin Ösöchbaatar , Mongolia and Radoslaw Marcinkiewicz , Poland and a defeat against Armands Zvirbulis , Latvia
2011	5.	Pan American Games in Guadalajara	medium	behind Jake Herbert , USA, Humberto Arencaiba Martinez, Jeff Adamson and Jose Daniel Diaz Robertti
2011	7th	FILA test tournament in London	medium	Winner: Sharif Sharifov , Azerbaijan ahead of Soslan Kzojew , Russia
2012	2.	Cerro Pelado International in Havana	medium	behind Humberto Arencaiba Martinez, in front of Mack Lewnes, USA
2012	2.	Olympic qualification tournament in Kissimmee Orlando / USA	medium	behind Humberto Arencaiba Martinez, in front of Adrian Antoine Jaoude, Brazil and Jeff Adamson
2012	3.	Ion Corneanu Memorial in Targoviste	medium	behind Michael Manea, Romania and Stefan Cantir, Moldova
2012	1.	Torneo Citta a Sassari	medium	before Matthew Miller, Canada, Salvatore Purpura, Italy and Andrei Frant, Romania
2012	3.	Grand Prix of Germany in Dortmund	medium	behind Albert Saritow and Magomedhadschi Chatijew, both Russia
2012	silver	OS in London	medium	after victories over Andrew Adibo Dick, Nigeria , Dato Marsagishvili , Georgia and Soslan Gattsijew , Belarus and a defeat against Sharif Sharifov
2013	2.	Golden Grand Prix in Sassari	medium	behind Ahmed Bilici, Turkey, in front of Andrei Frant and Achmed Abujew, France

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Welter weight, up to 74 kg, middle weight, up to 84 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website
• Website "www.themat.com"