Tajik silver medalist collapses

BEIJING (Reuters) - Tajikistan's men's 84kg freestyle wrestling silver medalist Yusup Abdusalomov collapsed and needed medical help after losing the gold medal bout to Georgian Revazi Mindorashvili on Thursday.

Abdusalomov, 30, collapsed on his way to a news conference and lay on the floor clutching his silver medal while medics and his coach were summoned. He was pale, his breathing was shallow, and he was unable to walk.

The wrestler tried for 20 minutes to regain his strength but had to be led away for medical monitoring.

"He is now under medical care and that's all I can say," a wrestling federation press official told Reuters.

A translator who watched while Abdusalomov lay stretched out along three plastic chairs in the press conference room said he heard a medic say the wrestler's pulse was returning to normal.

"I think he was simply exhausted," the translator said.

Russia's Shirvani Muradov, 32, who won a gold medal in the 96kg category, said conditions were grueling.

"Honestly, five bouts in a short time in one day is really very difficult to overcome," he said. It's very hard to recompose oneself and prepare oneself for the next match."

Mindorashvili had earlier won the final match 3-1. He embraced Abdusalomov warmly twice then celebrated with his country's red-and-white flag and fans in the arena.

Ukraine's Taras Danko and Russia's Georgy Ketoev won bronze medals.

The 32-year-old Georgian set up his path to the title with a surprise semi-final defeat of Ketoev, the world champion who was the hot favorite to take gold.

The Georgian team considered pulling out of the Olympics two weeks ago amid fighting in their homeland with Russian forces.

"VERY NERVOUS"

The 2005 world title holder and 2006 runner-up, who now has his first Olympic medal, said the conflict overshadowed the contest over the past two weeks.

"Of course we were all very nervous and all the team was thinking about what was happening in our country, Georgia. It was very difficult and very tough to concentrate on sport but I tried," he said. "I hope there will be peace in our country."

But conflict had not entered into his battle with Ketoev.

"We're athletes, not politicians," he said, adding that he and Ketoev had met several times for matches.

Mindorashvili wished silver medalist Abdusalamov well. He said he did not know what had happened to cause his opponent to collapse.

"Anything can happen in this kind of match, but I wish him all the best and good health," he said.

(Reporting by Doug Hamilton; Editing by Steve Ginsburg and Alex Richardson)