The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Uzbekistan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Uzbekistani Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 12 of which were born in Uzbekistan. This makes Uzbekistan the birth place of the 58th most number of Athletes behind Algeria, and Colombia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Uzbekistani Athletes of all time. This list of famous Uzbekistani 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 Uzbekistani Athletes.

Photo of Radion Gataullin

1. Radion Gataullin (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 44.27, Radion Gataullin is the most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Radion Aksanovich Gataullin (Russian: Радио́н Аксанович Гатау́ллин; born on 23 November 1965) is a retired pole vaulter who represented the Soviet Union and later Russia. He is the 1988 Olympic silver medallist, the 1987 World bronze medallist, a two-time European champion (1990/94) and a two-time World Indoor champion (1989/93). He is also a former world indoor record holder with clearances of 6.00m and 6.02m in 1989.

Photo of Sultan Rakhmanov

2. Sultan Rakhmanov (1950 - 2003)

With an HPI of 43.81, Sultan Rakhmanov is the 2nd most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Sultan Saburovych Rakhmanov (Ukrainian: Султан Сабурович Рахманов; 6 July 1950 – 5 May 2003) was an Olympic weightlifter for the USSR who won the gold medal in the super heavyweight class of the 1980 Summer Olympics. Sultan Rakhmanov won the super heavyweight gold medal in 1980 in Moscow when his legendary teammate Vasily Alekseyev was eliminated after he failed three times to snatch 180 kg. Rakhmanov made 6 perfect lifts to score a decisive victory at the 1980 Olympics. He also won gold medals at the World Weightlifting Championships in 1979 and 1980. Rakhmanov's father was Uzbek and his mother was Ukrainian, he was born in Uzbekistan. He trained during his weightlifting career in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Rakhmanov was a member of the Soviet national weightlifting team for 9 years. His most memorable victory was, of course, the super heavyweight class gold medal at the 1980 Olympics. For that victory, Rakhmanov was awarded Order of the Red Banner of Labour in Kremlin. After his retirement, Rakhmanov was the Chairman of the International Association of Disabled Sports Veterans. Sultan was an honored President of the Aikido Federation of Ukraine. He also was one of the pioneers of organized arm wrestling in the Soviet Union. Rakhmanov died on May 5, 2003, of a heart attack at age 52.

Photo of Natalya Shikolenko

3. Natalya Shikolenko (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 39.97, Natalya Shikolenko is the 3rd most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Natalya Shikolenko (Belarusian: Натальля Шыкаленка; born August 1, 1964, in Andizhan, Soviet Union) is a javelin thrower who represented the Soviet Union and later Belarus. She won an Olympic silver medal and a World Championship gold. Her sister Tatyana Shikolenko is also a successful javelin thrower, first representing Belarus but switching to Russia in 1996.

Photo of Tatyana Kotova

4. Tatyana Kotova (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 39.02, Tatyana Kotova is the 4th most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Tatyana Vladimirovna Kotova (Russian: Татьяна Владимировна Котова, born 11 December 1976) is a track and field athlete who competed for Russia in the long jump. Her personal best jump of 7.42 m at Annecy in 2002, is the best distance achieved by a female long jumper in the 21st century (as of 2023). Kotova won bronze medals in the event at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. She won three consecutive silver medals at the World Championships in Athletics from 2001 to 2005, also taking bronze in 2007. She had even greater success indoors, where she won the World Indoor Championships on three occasions, in 1999, 2003 and 2006, as well as finishing as runner-up in 2001 and 2004. She was later stripped of her 2005 World silver and 2006 World Indoor title. Her other titles include wins at the 2002 European Championships and the 2002 IAAF World Cup. She was third at the 2001 Goodwill Games and was the jackpot winner of the 2000 IAAF Golden League.

Photo of Sergey Belyayev

5. Sergey Belyayev (1960 - 2020)

With an HPI of 36.66, Sergey Belyayev is the 5th most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Sergey Nikolayevich Belyayev (Сергей Николаевич Беляев; 8 May 1960 – 6 September 2020) was a Kazakhstani shooter, who won two silver medals in 50 metre rifle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR.

Photo of Abdullo Tangriev

6. Abdullo Tangriev (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 35.90, Abdullo Tangriev is the 6th most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Abdullo Tangriev (born 28 March 1981) is an Uzbek judoka. He won a silver medal in the +100 kg category at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Photo of Marina Shmonina

7. Marina Shmonina (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 34.41, Marina Shmonina is the 7th most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Marina Shmonina (born 9 February 1965) is an athlete who represented the Soviet Union, and later Russia. She specialized in the 400 metres and 4 × 400 metres relay. Born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Shmonina competed for the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics, in the heats of the relay competition. When the team of Yelena Ruzina, Lyudmila Dzhigalova, Olga Nazarova and Olga Bryzgina won the final, Shmonina was also awarded the gold medal. Shmonina was hailed in Uzbekistan as the first Uzbek athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.

Photo of Michael Kolganov

8. Michael Kolganov (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 32.62, Michael Kolganov is the 8th most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Michael "Misha" Kolganov (or Kalganov, Hebrew: מיכאל (מישה) קולגנוב, Russian: Михаил Калганов; born 24 October 1974) is a USSR-born Israeli sprint kayaker and former two-time world champion (1998 & 1999). Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the K-1 500 m event at Sydney in 2000. He was the flag bearer for Israel during the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

Photo of Hasanboy Dusmatov

9. Hasanboy Dusmatov (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 32.06, Hasanboy Dusmatov is the 9th most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Hasanboy Marfjon Ugli Dusmatov (born 24 June 1993) is an Uzbek professional boxer. He won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2013 Summer Universiade as a light flyweight. He is also a three-time Asian Boxing Champion and 2023 World Champion. Dusmatov fights both Olympic and professional bouts. He has qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal on 8 August 2024.

Photo of Ruslan Nurudinov

10. Ruslan Nurudinov (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 30.22, Ruslan Nurudinov is the 10th most famous Uzbekistani Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Ruslan Nurudinov (Uzbek: Ruslan Shamil'evich Nurudinov; born 24 November 1991) is an Uzbekistani weightlifter of Tatar ethnic origin. He is the first world champion for Uzbekistan in weightlifting (2013). Nurudinov won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, setting a new Olympic record in the clean and jerk at 237 kg.

People

Pantheon has 51 people classified as Uzbekistani athletes born between 1950 and 2002. Of these 51, 49 (96.08%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Uzbekistani athletes include Radion Gataullin, Natalya Shikolenko, and Tatyana Kotova. The most famous deceased Uzbekistani athletes include Sultan Rakhmanov, and Sergey Belyayev. As of April 2024, 39 new Uzbekistani athletes have been added to Pantheon including Sultan Rakhmanov, Sergey Belyayev, and Michael Kolganov.

Living Uzbekistani Athletes

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Deceased Uzbekistani Athletes

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Newly Added Uzbekistani Athletes (2024)

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