Alex Bjurberg Kessidis

Alex Michel Bjurberg Kessidis (born 23 March 1995) is a Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a silver medalist at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships and a bronze medalist at the 2020 European Wrestling Championships and the 2019 European Games. He represented Sweden at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Early life

Kessidis and his brother Laokratis Kessidis, also a Greco-Roman wrestler, were born and raised in Sweden by a Greek father and a Swedish mother. In wrestling competitions his brother had chosen to represent Greece whereas Alex Kessidis represents Sweden. The following year, he competed in the 77kg event at the 2018 European Wrestling Championships held in Kaspiysk, Russia. In the same year, he reached the semi-finals in the 77kg event at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary where he lost against Aleksandr Chekhirkin of Russia. He then also lost his bronze medal match against Viktor Nemeš of Serbia. In the same year, he also competed at the 2019 European Games held in Minsk, Belarus and he won one of the bronze medals in the 77kg event.

In 2020, he won one of the bronze medals in the 77kg event at the European Wrestling Championships held in Rome, Italy. In his bronze medal match he defeated Volodymyr Yakovliev of Ukraine. In April 2021, he was eliminated in his second match in the 82kg event at the European Wrestling Championships in Warsaw, Poland. In June 2021, he won one of the bronze medals in his event at the 2021 Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Cup held in Warsaw, Poland.

He competed in the 77kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan where he was eliminated in his first match by Rafig Huseynov of Azerbaijan.

In 2022, he competed at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series held in Rome, Italy. He lost his bronze medal match in the 87kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia.

He competed at the 2024 European Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan hoping to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. He was eliminated in his first match and he did not qualify for the Olympics.

Achievements