Damir Zakhartdinov
[1] Considering one of the nation's top wrestlers in his decade, Zakhartdinov has yielded a staggering record of six career medals, including a bronze in the 58-kg division at the 1999 World Wrestling Championships in Ankara, Turkey, and seized an opportunity to represent Uzbekistan in three editions of the Olympic Games (1996, 2000, and 2004).He lost again to Iran's Mohammad Talaei in the repechage 2–4, and subsequently, to Belarus' Aleksandr Guzov in the final playoff by a rigid 3–2 verdict, dropping him to eighth place.During the preliminary competition, Zakhartdinov lost his opening match 4–1 to Russia's Murad Ramazanov, but bounced back to subdue Turkey's Harun Doğan (3–0) and pin Moldova's Octavian Cuciuc with only thirty seconds left.Zakhartdinov faced U.S. wrestler Terry Brands in the bronze medal match, but could not throw him down the mat and missed the podium by a single point to close the record 3–2, finishing only in fourth place.[6] He started the preliminary competition with a surprising 3–2 victory over Japan's Kenji Inoue, before being overwhelmed by Austria's Lubos Cikel in a 5–6 verdict and South Korea's Jung Young-ho on a marvelous technical fall.