Name Joseph Atiyeh | Role Olympic athlete | |
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Olympic medals Wrestling at the 1984 Summer Olympics - Men's Freestyle Heavyweight Similar People Lou Banach, Vasile Puscasu, Joseph Attieh | ||
1984 Olympic Games Freestyle Wrestling 100kg Final Lou Banach USA v Joseph Atiyeh SYR
Joseph Atiyeh (Arabic: جوزيف عطية, born October 8, 1957 in Amar al-hosn, Homs Governorate, Syria) is a Syrian wrestler, and the winner of Syria's first Olympic medal.
In the 1984 Summer Olympics, he represented his country in the freestyle heavyweight 100 kg competition, and won a silver medal. Though Atiyeh lived most of his life in the United States, and studied at Louisiana State University, where he was on the school's wrestling team, he qualified as a dual citizen and wrestled for Syria.
Atiyeh made it to the finals against Lou Banach of the United States and lost by fall in 61 seconds. Atiyeh had wrestled Banach in 1978 at the Midlands wrestling championship in Chicago. Atiyeh wrestled for Louisiana State University and won 13-10 in his first round of the championship against Banach.
At the 1984 Olympics, Atiyeh's victories included a win over Vasile Pușcașu from Romania by fall in the first round. Puscassu went on to win the 1988 Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight category in Seoul, Korea. Atiyeh also beat Kartar Singh of India by fall in 33 seconds.
Joseph Atiyeh is the brother of Dennis Atiyeh who represented Syria in the freestyle super-heavyweight category at the 1988 Summer Olympics.