The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Tajikistan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Tadzhik Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 13 of which were born in Tajikistan. This makes Tajikistan the birth place of the 85th most number of Athletes behind Uruguay, and Eritrea.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Tadzhik Athletes of all time. This list of famous Tadzhik Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Tadzhik Athletes.

Photo of Svetlana Kitova

1. Svetlana Kitova (1960 - 2015)

With an HPI of 48.05, Svetlana Kitova is the most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Svetlana Alexandrovna Kitova (Russian: Светлана Александровна Китова; 25 June 1960 – 18 November 2015) was a middle-distance runner who represented the USSR and later Russia. Born in Dushanbe, Kitova's greatest achievements were the 1989 World Indoor silver medal as well as two European Indoor gold medals. Her personal best 1500 metres time was 4:01.02 in Kiev on 2 August 1988.

Photo of Ravilya Agletdinova

2. Ravilya Agletdinova (1960 - 1999)

With an HPI of 47.48, Ravilya Agletdinova is the 2nd most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ravilya Agletdinova (Russian: Равиля Аглетдинова; married name Kotovich; 10 February 1960 – 25 June 1999) was a Soviet middle-distance runner who competed in 800 metres, 1500 metres and 3000 metres events. She was the 1500 m gold medallist at the 1986 European Athletics Championships and appeared three times at the World Championships in Athletics, her best finish being fourth in 1983. In lower level competitions, she was the winner of the 1985 European Cup in an unbeaten championship record and took silver medals at the IAAF World Cup, Friendship Games and Goodwill Games. She was a three-time champion at the Soviet Athletics Championships. Her personal bests for the 800 m (1:56.24 minutes) and 1500 m (3:58.40 minutes) remain the Belarusian records for the distance. Her daughter Maryna Arzamasava is also a runner. Agletdinova died in a traffic accident in 1999.

Photo of Dilshod Nazarov

3. Dilshod Nazarov (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 46.57, Dilshod Nazarov is the 3rd most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Dilshod Jamoliddinovich Nazarov (Tajik: Dilşod Çamoliddinovic Nazarov, Persian: دلشاد نظروف‌; Russian: Дильшод Джамолиддинович Назаров, Dilshod Dzhamoliddinovich Nazarov) (born 6 May 1982) is a Tajik track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw. He has represented his country at the Olympic Games on four occasions (in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016), winning the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro, the first gold medal for Tajikistan in the history of the Olympic Games. He has competed seven times at the World Championships in Athletics (2005 to 2017), but has been most successful at regional competitions: he won medals at four consecutive Asian Athletics Championships and was the hammer champion at the Asian Games in 2006, 2010 and 2014. He won his first global medal (a silver) in 2010 at the IAAF Continental Cup. His personal best for the event is 80.71 metres, set in 2013.

Photo of Anatoli Starostin

4. Anatoli Starostin (b. 1960)

With an HPI of 45.18, Anatoli Starostin is the 4th most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Anatoli Starostin (born 18 January 1960) is a former Soviet modern pentathlete and Olympic champion.

Photo of Rustamhodza Rahimov

5. Rustamhodza Rahimov (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 43.75, Rustamhodza Rahimov is the 5th most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Rustamhodza "Rustam" Rahimov (born February 16, 1975, in Dushanbe) is a German former boxer of Tajikistanii origin. He won a bronze medal in the flyweight semi-finals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he was defeated by Cuba's Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano.

Photo of Raimkul Malakhbekov

6. Raimkul Malakhbekov (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 40.48, Raimkul Malakhbekov is the 6th most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Raimkul Khudoynazarovich Malakhbekov (Russian: Раимкуль Худойназарович Малахбеков; born 16 August 1974 in Dushanbe, Tajik SSR) is one of highest titled boxers of Russia, who won two Olympic medals in the Men's Bantamweight (54 kg) category.

Photo of Mavzuna Chorieva

7. Mavzuna Chorieva (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 35.01, Mavzuna Chorieva is the 7th most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Mavzuna Chorieva (born 1 October 1992 in Kulob, Tajikistan) is a Tajikistani boxer. She won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the lightweight event. Mavzuna Chorieva became the first woman to win an Olympic medal for Tajikistan.

Photo of Suhrob Khodjaev

8. Suhrob Khodjaev (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 32.30, Suhrob Khodjaev is the 8th most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 12 different languages.

Suhrob Rustamovich Khodjaev (Tajik: Сӯҳроб Хоҷаев; born 21 May 1993) is an Uzbek hammer thrower. He was born in and originally competed for Tajikistan.

Photo of Komronshokh Ustopiriyon

9. Komronshokh Ustopiriyon (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 31.36, Komronshokh Ustopiriyon is the 9th most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 13 different languages.

Komronshokh Ustopiriyon (born 7 January 1993) is a Tajikistani judoka. Ustopiriyon competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's 90 kg.

Photo of Lee Hui-sol

10. Lee Hui-sol (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 23.78, Lee Hui-sol is the 10th most famous Tadzhik Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 6 different languages.

Lee Hui-sol (born 27 August 1989) is a South Korean weightlifter. She competed in the women's +75 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

People

Pantheon has 16 people classified as Tadzhik athletes born between 1960 and 2000. Of these 16, 14 (87.50%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Tadzhik athletes include Dilshod Nazarov, Anatoli Starostin, and Rustamhodza Rahimov. The most famous deceased Tadzhik athletes include Svetlana Kitova, and Ravilya Agletdinova. As of April 2024, 3 new Tadzhik athletes have been added to Pantheon including Ravilya Agletdinova, Anatoli Starostin, and Mavzuna Chorieva.

Living Tadzhik Athletes

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Deceased Tadzhik Athletes

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Newly Added Tadzhik Athletes (2025)

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