Rublovskis beat Zelonijs, third in the lightweight division at Sydney 2000, by 13 votes to 12. 

The 46-year-old Rublovskis is a retired colonel, who served for 23 years in Latvia's National Armed Forces. 

He held several top positions during his military career, including Commander of the Military Police of the National Armed Forces, Commander of the Parliament and State President Security Service and Latvia's representative at NATO SHAPE, the allied powers supreme headquarters. 

Rublovskis, a graduate of the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Virginia, has a second Dan and competed internationally when he was younger.

He is now a researcher at researcher at Riga Stradiņš University.

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