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

#WrestleBelgrade

Day Three Finals Preview Show

Monday, September 12, 2022 - 13:32 By Eric Olanowski

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BELGRADE, SERBIA (September 12) --- Monday night, we’ll hand out world titles at 63kg, 67kg, 82kg and 97kg.

At 63kg, Sebastian NAD (SRB) will try to keep Serbia perfect in the gold-medal match and win the host nation’s third Greco-Roman gold medal of the competition as he'll meet Leri ABULADZE (GEO).

In the 67kg finals, "The Ice Man" Tokyo Olympic champion Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) will have to defeat 2019 world bronze medal winner Mate NEMES (SRB) to win his second consecutive world title.

Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) and Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) will meet for 82kg gold.

Olympic champion Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) will have to get through Bulgaria’s world silver medalist Kiril MILOV to summit the world podium for the fourth time and first since 2017.

You can watch the action live at 18:00 on uww.org or on The Home of Wrestling, United World Wrestling's app.

Monday's final pairings:
63kg - Leri ABULADZE ??vs. Sebastian NAD ??
67kg - Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI ?? vs. Mate NEMES ??
82kg - Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV ?? vs. Burhan AKBUDAK ??
97kg - Artur ALEKSANYAN?? vs. Kiril MILOV ??