The Most Famous

WRESTLERS from Kyrgyzstan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Kirghiz Wrestlers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,027 Wrestlers, 4 of which were born in Kyrgyzstan. This makes Kyrgyzstan the birth place of the 39th most number of Wrestlers behind Poland, and Belarus.

Top 7

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.

Photo of Yuriy Melnichenko

1. Yuriy Melnichenko (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 32.92, 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.

Photo of Akzhol Makhmudov

2. Akzhol Makhmudov (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 30.14, Akzhol Makhmudov is the 2nd most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 20 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.

Photo of Kanatbek Begaliev

3. Kanatbek Begaliev (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 27.76, 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”

Photo of Ruslan Tyumenbayev

4. Ruslan Tyumenbayev (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 23.99, 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.

Photo of Aiperi Medet Kyzy

5. Aiperi Medet Kyzy (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 0.00, Aiperi Medet Kyzy is the 5th most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Aiperi Medet Kyzy (born 30 March 1999) is a Kyrgyzstani freestyle wrestler. She won the silver medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She also represented Kyrgyzstan at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. At the 2022 Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China, Medet Kyzy won the gold medal in the women's 76 kg event. She is also a two-time medalist, including gold, at the Islamic Solidarity Games and a five-time medalist, including two gold medals, at the Asian Wrestling Championships.

Photo of Muzaffarbek Turoboyev

6. Muzaffarbek Turoboyev (b. 2000)

With an HPI of 0.00, Muzaffarbek Turoboyev is the 6th most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Muzaffarbek Turoboyev (born 5 April 2000) is an Uzbekistani judoka. He won the gold medal at the 2022 World Judo Championships, a bronze medal at the 2021 World Judo Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Ernazar Akmataliev

7. Ernazar Akmataliev (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 0.00, Ernazar Akmataliev is the 7th most famous Kirghiz Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Ernazar Akmataliev (born 2 July 1998) is a Kyrgyzstani wrestler. He won the gold medal in the 70 kg event at the 2021 U23 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. He competed in the men's freestyle 65 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but lost the first match to Bajrang Punia. He won one of the bronze medals in the men's 70 kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. He competed at the 2024 Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and he earned a quota place for Kyrgyzstan for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

People

Pantheon has 7 people classified as Kirghiz wrestlers born between 1972 and 2000. Of these 7, 7 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Kirghiz wrestlers include Yuriy Melnichenko, Akzhol Makhmudov, and Kanatbek Begaliev. As of April 2024, 3 new Kirghiz wrestlers have been added to Pantheon including Aiperi Medet Kyzy, Muzaffarbek Turoboyev, and Ernazar Akmataliev.

Living Kirghiz Wrestlers

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Newly Added Kirghiz Wrestlers (2024)

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