The most successful Macedonian sport is free - style wrestling. The wrestler Shaban Trstena was a gold medallist at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and also won the silver medal at Seoul Olympics in 1988. Trstena is the 1984 European champion, won the silver medals in 1983, 1985, 1986, and the bronze in 1982 and 1988. He holds the World Championship 1985 silver and 1982 bronze . Whenever he took part in the Mediterranean or Balkan Games, he was the wrestler to win the first place. He has been pronounced the Best Macedonian Athlete many times and once the best athlete in former Yugoslavia. He has won 715 matches out of 741 fights. He participated in 42 tournaments in the world winning 30 gold medals, the remainder being silver and bronze. At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 he won the fifth place.

His colleague Shaban Seydiu was the winner of bronze medals at the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics.

Mogamed Ibragimov at the Sydney Olympics (AP)

The 27th edition of the Olympic Games will have a special place in the history of the Macedonian sport. In Sydney, the wrestler Mogamed Ibragimov won the bronze medal- the first Olympic trophy for our country since the day of its independence, thus outclassing Barcelona ’92 and Atlanta ’96. The Republic of Macedonia ranked within the group of 80 countries that took along a medal on their journey home. It is undoubtedly a particularly valuable accomplishment, knowing that athletes from 199 NOCs took part in the competitions in Sydney, and that the MOC Team consisted of only 10 competitors in 5 sports. The wrestling sport was once again the most successful for us. The swimmers were the most numerous in our Team; we had an experienced representative in the canoe-kayak slalom, and debutants in athletics and shooting. Their common feature was that they all endeavored and succeeded to represent their country the best way – some with high placements, and most of them by making their personal bests. Behind all that, apart from the individual engagements and experts support, stand also the plan of preparations, efficiently completed by the Macedonian Olympic Committee, the assistance of the people from the MOC Club in Australia, particularly during the days of acclimatization in Wollongong, and, needless to say, the excellent conditions of the stay and the competitions provided by the organizer of the outstanding and unforgettable Olympics in Sydney 2000.

Mogamed Ibragimov	Nasir Gadzinov

Mogamed Ibragimov won the silver medal at the 1998 World Championship and is a three-time European champion (1995, 1996 and 1999).

Thanks to the outstanding Mogamed Ibragimov, our country gained a position on the trophy-winning list of the Sydney Olympics the very last day of the competitions. On his way to the bronze, in the category through 85 kg. of weight, the popular Mogi outfought Bichinashvili (Ukraine), on points, and Kawai (Japan). Then the next day he had three fights on his way to the Olympic trophy – in the quarterfinals he defeated Burton (USA) on points, lost to Saitiev (Russia) on points in the semi-finals, and, in a fight that was tough and of uncertain outcome, he effectively defeated Azgadi (Iran) by 4:1.

Macedonia had one more wrestler worth mentioning – Nasir Gadzihanov (76 kg), but he was eliminated from the path towards the Olympic medal by a senseless judges’ decision. Namely, after two wins on points, over Kertanti (Slovakia) and Romero (Cuba), Gadzihanov met Leipold (Germany) in a fight for a participation in the semi-finals. After the very first action, he took the lead by 3:1, however, surprisingly, the main judge switched the score to 0:3, which set the winner. Upon the appeal, Gadzihanov had his points back, yet Leipold remained winner. The German eventually won the gold medal; however, it was additionally determined he had turned out to be positive on the doping control.

The "Balkanec" Wrestling Club from Shtip was a vice - champion of Europe.