Aslanbek Khushtov
Russia
Wrestling
Overall Ranks
#1 among Russian Olympians
#1 among Wrestlers
Olympic Results
2008
Greco-Roman Heavyweight - Gold
Total
Events - 1
Gold - 1
Aslanbek Vitalyevich Khushtov was born on July 1, 1980 in Beloglinka, USSR, which is now part of Russia. He began wrestling as a youth, but it took him years to get to the level where he was winning internationally, and he finally made his first Olympic team in 2008, at the age of 28.
The defending gold and silver medalists were returning for the Greco-Roman heavyweight event in Beijing. Khushtov had won the European championship just 3 months earlier, but was not considered a top contender. In the first round, he beat Aset Mambetov of Kazakhstan in a 10-0 shutout, and Mambetov would work his way back through the repechage bracket to win the bronze medal, though he would later lose the medal after testing positive for PEDs.
He won his next two matches 8-0 and 9-0, which put him through to the semifinals. By that point, the returning medalists had both been upset, so the tournament was wide open, and Khushtov took advantage. In the semifinal, he had an early 5-0 lead when he pinned his opponent, putting him through to the final. He faced German Mirko Englich in the final, and posted another shutout, winning the gold medal by a score of 9-0.
Following the Olympics, he won the next 2 European championships, but only took bronze in the world championships. He retired from international competition in 2011, and a few years later was elected to the Russian parliament, a position he still holds.
In his lone Olympic appearance, he not only won every one of his matches, but he won every won of them in shutouts, making him the only wrestler in Olympic history to never give up a single point in his career. He may only have a single gold medal, but he was so dominant that he has earned his spot on the list of the greatest Olympians of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment