Olympic medalist | ||
Medal record | ||
Competitor for Russia | ||
---|---|---|
Men's Freestyle Wrestling | ||
Olympic Games | ||
Gold | Atlanta 1996 | 74 kg freestyle |
Gold | Athens 2004 | 74 kg freestyle |
Gold | Beijing 2008 | 74 kg freestyle |
World Championships | ||
Gold | Atlanta 1995 | 74 kg freestyle |
Gold | Krasnojarsk 1997 | 76 kg freestyle |
Gold | Tehran 1998 | 76 kg freestyle |
Gold | Sofia 2001 | 76 kg freestyle |
Gold | New York 2003 | 74 kg freestyle |
Gold | Budapest 2005 | 74 kg freestyle |
European Championships | ||
Gold | Budapest 1996 | 74 kg freestyle |
Gold | Warsaw 1997 | 76 kg freestyle |
Gold | Bratislava 1998 | 85 kg freestyle |
Gold | Budapest 2000 | 76 kg freestyle |
Gold | Budapest 2001 | 76 kg freestyle |
Gold | Moscow 2006 | 74 kg freestyle |
Buvaisar Hamidovich Saitiev, also spelled Buvaysar Hamidovich Saytiev, (Russian: Бувайсар Хамидович Сайтиев, Chechen: Сайт КIант Бувайса) (born on March 11, 1975 in Khasavyurt, Russia) is a Chechen wrestler who has won nine world-level gold medals in freestyle wrestling.
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In 1992, Buvaisar left his hometown of Khasavyurt, Dagestan in order to train at a prestigious wrestling center in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Soon after graduating from the training center, Saitiev began his quest to represent Russia on the world stage. Buvaisar has been decorated with the Order of Friendship by the Russian president.
Buvaisar's life philosophy has been heavily influenced by Nobel Prize-winning poet Boris Pasternak. Saitiev repeats the following poem before every match, and according to Buvaisar, the poem has defined his life both inside and outside of wrestling:[1]
To be the famous isn’t attractive,
Not this could ever elevate,
You needn’t to make your archive active,
You needn’t your scripts to be all saved. Self-offering’s aimed by creation,
But ballyhoo or cheap success,
It is a shame, if worthless persons
Are talks of towns’ populace.— Boris Pasternak, My Sister Life
Быть знаменитым некрасиво.
Не это подымает ввысь.
Не надо заводить архива,
Над рукописями трястись. Цель творчества самоотдача,
А не шумиха, не успех.
Позорно ничего не знача,
Быть притчей на устах у всех.— Борис Пастернак, Сестра моя — жизнь
Saitiev has won nine world-level gold medals. He is a six-time world champion and a three-time Olympic champion. His senior-level international career began in 1995 and, to date, has continued on through the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. In thirteen years, he's entered eleven world championship tournaments, won nine world championship tournaments, and lost only two bouts.
I let this person take me down in the second round. I didn't even know who he was. I had to look him up in the Internet. I think he shouldn't have been in the Olympics at all, he was like a plane fly-by, he flew in, flew out, and he didn't have much to offer. Maybe they fed him something. He appeared, caused havoc and disappeared. Kind of like that Rulon Gardner, but Rulon at least fights there somewhere. That Slay guy disappeared for good. He's not even worth my thoughts. If somebody asks me a question about him only then do I remember, otherwise he doesn't exist for me."
— Buvaisar Saitiev, The Silent Gladiators[2]