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Bakhtiyar Artayev Personal information Full name: Бахтияр Карипуллаевич Артаев Nationality:  Kazakhstan Rated at: Welterweight / Middleweight Date of birth: March 14, 1983 (1983-03-14) (age 26) Place of birth: Taraz, Zhambyl Height: 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Weight: 75 kg (170 lb)

Medal record Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens Welterweight World Amateur Championships Bronze 2005 Mianyang Welterweight Bronze 2007 Chicago Middleweight Asian Games Silver 2006 Doha Middleweight

Bakhtiyar Karipullayevich Artayev (Kazakh: Бақтияр Кәріпұллаұлы Артаев, Russian: Бахтияр Карипуллаевич Артаев; born March 14, 1983 in Taraz, Kazakhstan) is a Kazakh boxer who won the only Gold medal for Kazakhstan in the men's welterweight division (– 69 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was also the Winner of the Val Barker Trophy for the outstanding boxer of the 2004 Olympics Games. After the 2004 Summer Olympics he became a living legend of boxing in Kazakhstan; one of the Taraz sport centres was named after him and a book was written.

Career

The first tournament that Bakhtiyar won was the regional children's tournament under his coach Nurlan Akurpekov, who still coaches Artayev today. Before the 2004 Summer Olympics he tended to play second fiddle in the Kazakhstan boxing team, fighting only in Kazakhstan amateur tournaments. Nevertheless, he participated in 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he lost in the quarterfinals. Before the 2004 Summer Olympics he had not been considered as a favourite in a welterweight division. He qualified for the Athens Games by ending up in first place in the 2nd AIBA Asian 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Karachi, Pakistan. In the final he defeated Iran's S Karimi Ahmedabad. Surprisingly, in Athens he easily got into semi-finals where he defeated two time Olympic champion, Oleg Saitov from Russia. In the final, Bakhtiyar defeated a Cuban boxer Lorenzo Aragon, who had not been beaten for a year and a half.

He won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Mianyang, China and went up to middleweight.

Artayev's results were as follows:

the 2004 Summer Olympics:

• Round of 32: Defeated Willy Bertrand Tankeu (Cameroon) Wipeout points stoppage
• Round of 16: Defeated Aliasker Bashirov (Turkmenistan) 33-23
• Quarterfinals: Defeated Viktor Polyakov (Ukraine) RSC-3 (0:50)
• Semifinals: Defeated Oleg Saitov (Russia) 20-18
• Gold Medal Match: Defeated Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros (Cuba) 36-26

the 2007 World Championship:

• Round of 64: Defeated Nakani Giorgi RSCI R2 (1:43)
• Round of 32: Defeated CHO Deok-Jin RSC R4 (0:55)
• Round of 16: Defeated Prasathinphimai Suriya 20:7
• Quarterfinals: Defeated Said Rachidi 19:11
• Semifinals: Lost to Alfonso Blanco (boxer) 7:15

the 2008 Summer Olympics:

• Round of 32: Defeated Said Rachidi 8:2
• Round of 16: Defeated Matvey Korobov 10:7
• Quarterfinals: Lost to James Degale 3:8

References

• Profile
• [1]