Iryna Merleni
Ukrainian wrestler (born 1982) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iryna Oleksiyivna Merleni (Ukrainian: Ірина Олексіївна Мерлені), née Melnyk (Мельник), married name Mykulchyn (Микульчин) (born 8 February 1982) is a Ukrainian wrestler, who competed in the – 48 kg weight class at the 2004 Summer Olympics and claimed the gold medal. In the same event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, she won a bronze medal.[1] She is a three-time world champion, and has also won the European Championships once.
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Native name | Ірина Олексіївна Мельник / Мерлені / Микульчин | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Full name | Iryna Oleksiyivna Melnyk / Merleni / Mykulchyn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1982-02-08) 8 February 1982 (age 42) Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Merleni was born in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast. In February 2006, she married Andriy Mykulchyn, with whom she has two sons – Artur and Adam. She was inducted into the Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2023.[2]
Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine she fled to Haparanda, Sweden, where she now works at the local Systembolaget. In her spare time she acts as a wrestling coach for the club Haparanda SKT.