WRESTLERS from Kyrgyzstan

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Kirghiz Wrestlers of all time. This list of famous Kirghiz Wrestlers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Yuriy Melnichenko (1972 - )

With an HPI of 31.15, Yuriy Melnichenko is the most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.

Yuriy Vasilyevich Melnichenko (Russian: Юрий Васильевич Мельниченко; born 5 June 1972) is a Kazakhstani wrestler who won the gold medal in the Greco-Roman bantamweight (52–57 kg) category at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He competed at the next Olympics in the featherweight division and finished 19th. After retiring from competing, Melnichenko worked as a wrestling coach. Between 2000 and 2004 he led the national team, and after that acted as vice-president of the national wrestling federation. Georgiy Tsurtsumia was his trainee. In August 2023, he was appointed head coach of the national Greco-Roman wrestling team of Kazakhstan.

2. Akzhol Makhmudov (1999 - )

With an HPI of 24.60, Akzhol Makhmudov is the 2nd most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Akzhol Makhamadzhanovich Makhmudov (Kyrgyz: Акжол Махамаджанович Махмудов; born 15 April 1999) is a Kyrgyzstani Greco-Roman wrestler. He won the silver medal in 77 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He won a gold medal at the 2022 World Championships, becoming Kyrgyzstan's first ever Greco-Roman World champion. Makhmudov repeated his success a year later at the 2023 World Championships, and won another gold medal- becoming a two-time World champion.

3. Kanatbek Begaliev (1984 - )

With an HPI of 24.59, Kanatbek Begaliev is the 3rd most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Kanatbek Kubatovich Begaliev (born 14 February 1984 in Talas, Kyrgyz SSR) is a Kyrgyz wrestler who won the silver medal in the Men's Greco-Roman 66 kg at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. After Athens 2004 where he was at 11th place he received invitation to Kazakh national team, which he accepted and also became Kazakhstan citizen. And he trained in Kazakhstan within Kazakh National team until it turned out that to Olympic qualification he was not eligible to represent Kazakhstan yet, and Kanat returned to Kyrgyzstan and qualified to Beijing 2008, where he won Silver medal. Consequently, he said: “Sure, I am always thankful to Kazakhstan, all Kazakh coaches and athletes who believed in me and shared with me their knowledge and skills. I trained there and played with them football. Thus part of this medal belongs to Kazakhstan”

4. Ruslan Tyumenbayev (1986 - )

With an HPI of 20.79, Ruslan Tyumenbayev is the 4th most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Ruslan Tyumenbayev (Kyrgyz: Руслан Түмөнбай уулу; Russian: Руслан Самаганович Тюменбаев; born May 28, 1986, in Frunze) is a Kyrgyz wrestler who won the bronze medal in the Men's Greco-Roman 60 kg in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.