Artur Taymazov won the men's 120kg freestyle title on Thursday to give Uzbekistan their first wrestling gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
Taymazov, the defending Olympic champion who was also world champion in 2003 and 2006, beat Bakhtiyar Akhmedov of Russia in the last final match of the wrestling competition.
The 21-year-old Russian, a former junior world champion, appeared sluggish and failed to score and hand a points victory after two periods to his 29-year-old rival.
‘We are opponents on the mat but we are all friends off it,’ the bald Taymazov said.
‘We prepared well for this fight.’
Many of the finalists in the heavier wrestling categories all grew up in the former Soviet Union, but found themselves representing new countries after its break-up.
Russia however has retained a strong core, and they won six gold medals.
‘This is a very popular sport in Russia as well as in the other parts of the Caucasus,’ said Akhmedov, who settled for the silver medal.
‘You can almost call this the national sport. The Olympic competition is a four-year cycle and they always bring surprises. They are always unpredictable.
‘I guess experience was also a factor today. This is a very tough competition but the rules are the same for everyone,’ the Russian said, referring to complaints by some wrestlers here about the hectic nature of the tournaments, where each weight category is fought in a single day.
‘Wrestling is a man's sport,’ he added.
Marid Mutalimov of Kazakhstan and David Musulbes, the Sydney 2000 Olympics gold medallist for Russia but who now represents Slovakia, both won bronze medals.
‘We had an excellent result here,’ said Musulbes, whose new country also won a bronze medal.
