Buvaisar Saitiev
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality |
 Russian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ethnicity |
 Chechen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
March 11, 1975 Khasavyurt, Dagestan ASSR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1995-2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 79 kg (174 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Russia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Freestyle wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Dmitri Mindiashvili, Hamid Saitiev | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 5 September 2014. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Buvaisar Hamidovich Saitiev, also spelled Buvaysar Hamidovich Saytiev, (Russian: Бувайсар Хамидович Сайтиев, Chechen: Сайт КIант Бувайса) (born March 11, 1975 in Khasavyurt, Dagestan ASSR) is a Russian wrestler of Chechen heritage, who has won nine world-level gold medals in freestyle wrestling. He Is widely considered the greatest freestyle wrestler of all time. [1]
Life
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. His younger brother Adam Saitiev, also a wrestler, won gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
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:[2]
It is not seemly to be famous
Celebrity does not exalt;
There is no need to hoard your writings
And to preserve them in a vault.
To give your all - this is creation,
And not - to deafen and eclipse.
How shameful, when you have no meaning,
To be on everybody's lips!
Try not to live as a pretender,
But so to manage your affairs
That you are loved by wide expanses,
And hear the call of future years.
Leave blanks in life, not in your papers,
And do not ever hesitate
To pencil out whole chunks, whole chapters
Of your existence, of your fate.
Into obscurity retiring
Try your development to hide,
As autumn mist on early mornings
Conceals the dreaming countryside.
Another, step by step, will follow
The living imprint of your feet;
But you yourself must not distinguish
Your victory from your defeat.
And never for a single moment
Betray your credo or pretend,
But be alive-this only matters-
Alive and burning to the end.— 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
Wrestling career
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 1994 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.
1995
- Saitiev won a world gold medal at 74 kg in Atlanta, Georgia.
1996
- Saitiev won a gold medal at 74 kg at the European Championships, held in Budapest, Hungary.
- Saitiev won an Olympic gold medal at 74 kg in Atlanta, Georgia. He won the title after defeating Park Jang-Soon of South Korea in the championship match by a score of 5-0.
- Saitiev was named the Freestyle Wrestler of the Year by the International Wrestling Federation
1997
- Saitiev won a gold medal at 76 kg at the European Championships, held in Warsaw, Poland.
- Saitiev won a world gold medal at 76 kg in Krasnojarsk, Russia.
1998
- Saitiev won a gold medal at 85 kg at the European Championships, held in Bratislava, Slovakia.
- Saitiev won a world gold medal at 76 kg in Tehran, Iran.
- Saitiev was named the Freestyle Wrestler of the Year by the International Wrestling Federation
1999
- Saitiev did not compete in the world championships. Instead, Russia was represented by Saitiev's brother Adam Saitiev at 76 kg. Adam Saitiev won the gold.
2000
- Saitiev won a gold medal at 76 kg at the European Championships, held in Budapest, Hungary.
- Saitiev finished 9th at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia after being upset by American Brandon Slay. Slay was eventually awarded the gold medal at 76 kg.
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[3]
2001
- Saitiev won a gold medal at 76 kg at the European Championships, held in Budapest, Hungary.
- Saitiev won a world gold medal at 76 kg in Sofia, Bulgaria.
2002
- Saitiev did not compete at the world championships in 2002. He lost to Magomed Isagadjiev at the 2002 Russian Nationals. Isagadjiev went on the win a silver medal at the world championships.
2003
2004
- Saitiev won an Olympic gold medal at 74 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece by defeating Kazakh Gennadiy Laliyev by a score of 7-0.[4]
2005
2006
- Saitiev won a gold medal at 74 kg at the European Championships, held in Moscow, Russia.
- Saitiev wrestled at the world championships with a rib injury and did not place. He lost to Mihail Ganev of Bulgaria, Saitiev placed eighth at the tournament, after having suffered only his second loss of his international career.
2007
- Saitiev was beat out for the Russian team by Makhach Murtazaliev, who went on to win the world title. According to media reports, Saitiev's training in 2007 was hampered by a neck injury.[5]
2008
- Saitiev won an Olympic gold medal at 74 kg at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China by defeating Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan.
External links
- CHECHEN FIGHT CLUB
- Buvaysar's official website
- JISS Olympic Result Database information
- Chechnya Free.ru article
- Interview with Buvaisar Saitiev (in Russian)
- Flowrestling Video Interview with Saitiev after 2008 Olympics
References
- ↑ http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/1/15/5309058/ufc-fight-night-35-factgrinder-the-wrestling-career-of-yoel-romero-olympics-saitiev-cuba, SB Nation, Retrieved June 18, 2014
- ↑ The Silent Gladiators, p. 237
- ↑ http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/discman/3002-silent-gladiators-chapter-xxxi-chechen-fighters
- ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200408/s1187612.htm
- ↑ http://english.newslab.ru/news/213049