Tajikistan’s men’s 84kg freestyle wrestling silver medallist 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 said.

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 gruelling. “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 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 favourite to take gold.

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