Obituary

Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov, First Kazakh to Win Olympic Gold, Dies at 69

Monday, August 3, 2020 - 12:49 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (August 3) -- Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov, who won Olympic gold for the U.S.S.R  in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Moscow Games in 1980, has died. He was 69.

Ushkempirov was the first ethnic Kazakh to win an Olympic gold in wrestling and became a national star following his performance. To honor his achievements, there is an international Junior Greco-Roman wrestling tournament named "Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov" held annually in the nation of Kazakhstan. He was also inducted into the UWW Hall of Fame in 2014.

In addition to his Olympic gold, Ushkempirov was a 1981 World champion, 1980 European silver medallist, USSR Champion (1975,1980), and Honored Master of Sports of USSR (1980). 

Ushkempirov also received the Labor of Kazakhstan award as well as the honors of "Barys", "Badge of Honor", "Parasat".

Ushkempirov

#UWWAwards2022

Amouzad, Elor, Nazaryan Tabbed as UWW's Rising Stars of 2022

Thursday, December 22, 2022 - 13:02 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 22) -- Rahman AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI), Amit ELOR (USA) and Edmond NAZARYAN (BUL) had outstanding results in 2022 and have been named United World Wrestling’s Rising Stars of the Year.

Amouzad, at just 20 years old, won golds at the Asian and World Championships this season and scored incredible 2022 wins over veterans Bajrang PUNIA & Haji ALIYEV (AZE), before closing out his near-perfect World Championships with a win over Yianni Diakomihalis (USA) in the final to capture the 65kg gold.

Elor had a phenomenal season, becoming the first American to win three world titles in a single season.

The 19-year-old won U20 world gold in August and a senior-level world title in September, before capping off a historic year with a U23 world title in October, joining a rare list of wrestlers who won gold medals at every World Championships.

In Greco-Roman, Nazaryan extended his family tradition of excelling on the big stage.

Just 20 years old, the Bulgarian reached the European and World Championships finals this year and made it clear that he is ready for the big stage at such a young age.

His runs include wins over Olympic silver Kenchiro FUMITA (JPN), and European foes Murad MAMMADOV (AZE) and Erik TORBA (HUN).

While he fell short of crossing the final hurdle at both tournaments, Nazaryan has put his name in the hat at 60kg for the coming future.