Buvaisar Saitiev

Buvaisar Hamidovich Saitiev, also spelled Buvaysar Hamidovich Saytiev, (Бувайсар Хамидович Сайтиев, Сайт КIант Бувайса) (born March 11, 1975) is a Russian retired freestyle wrestler of Chechen heritage, who represented Russia, and won nine world-level gold medals in freestyle wrestling (second highest, behind Aleksandr Medved's ten). He is widely considered as the greatest freestyle wrestler of all time. He currently is an acting State Duma Deputy from Dagestan.

Personal life
In 1992, Buvaisar left his hometown of Khasavyurt, Dagestan in order to train at a prestigious wrestling center in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. His younger brother Adam Saitiev would follow in his footsteps.

Soon after graduating from the training center, Saitiev began his quest to represent Russia on the world stage. Buvaisar has been decorated with the Order of Friendship by the Russian president. His younger brother Adam Saitiev, also a wrestler, won gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Buvaisar's life philosophy has been heavily influenced by Nobel Prize-winning poet Boris Pasternak. Saitiev repeats Pasternak's poem, "It is not seemly to be famous, " before every match, and according to Buvaisar, the poem has defined his life both inside and outside of wrestling.

Wrestling career
Saitiev has won nine World-level gold medals. He is a six-time World champion and a three-time Olympic champion. His senior level international career began in 1994 and continued on through the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. In thirteen years, he competed in eleven World or Olympic championship tournaments, winning nine gold medals at those events and losing only two bouts. Buvaisar won at the World championships in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2005, and at the Olympics in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

His only two losses at the World or Olympic championships were in 1994, to Iranian wrestler Davoud Ghanbari at the 1994 Wrestling World Cup at the age of 18, and in 2000, to American wrestler Brandon Slay at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In 1999, Buvaisar did not wrestle at the World championships, instead his weight class was represented by his younger brother Adam Saitiev, who went on to win the gold medal. Saitiev also did not compete at the World championships in 2002, after having lost to Magomed Isagadjiev at the 2002 Russian Nationals. Isagadjiev went on the win a silver medal at the World championships. In 2007, Makhach Murtazaliev beat Saitiev to a spot on the Russian team and went on to win the World title. According to media reports, Saitiev's training in 2007 was hampered by a neck injury. His Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics was his last wrestling competition and the final of his nine total World or Olympic level championships.

Match results
! colspan="7"| World Championships & Olympics ! Res. !  Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2008 Summer Olympics at 74kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2006 World Championships 8th at 74kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2005 World Championships at 74kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2004 Summer Olympics at 74kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2003 World Championships at 74kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2001 World Championships at 76kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2000 Summer Olympics 9th at 76kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |1998 World Championships at 76kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |1997 World Championships at 76kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |1996 Summer Olympics at 74kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |1995 World Championships at 74kg
 * Win
 * 46-2
 * align=left|🇺🇿 Soslan Tigiev
 * style="font-size:88%"|0–1, 1–0, 3–1
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|August 12, 2008
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2008 Olympic Games
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5|🇨🇳 Beijing, China
 * Win
 * 45-2
 * align=left|🇧🇬 Kiril Terziev
 * style="font-size:88%"|Fall
 * Win
 * 44-2
 * align=left|🇨🇺 Ivan Fundora
 * style="font-size:88%"|2-0, 2-1
 * Win
 * 43-2
 * align=left|🇹🇷 Ahmet Gülhan
 * style="font-size:88%"|1-0, 4-0
 * Win
 * 42-2
 * align=left|🇰🇷 Cho Byung-kwan
 * style="font-size:88%"|1-0, 7-2
 * Win
 * 42-2
 * align=left|🇰🇷 Cho Byung-kwan
 * style="font-size:88%"|1-0, 7-2
 * style="font-size:88%"|1-0, 7-2
 * Loss
 * 41-2
 * align=left|🇧🇬 Mihail Ganev
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-0, 2-2, 1-1
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|September 27, 2006
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|2006 World Wrestling Championships
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3|🇨🇳 Guangzhou, China
 * Win
 * 41-1
 * align=left|🇨🇺 Ivan Fundora
 * style="font-size:88%"|5-3, 7-2
 * Win
 * 40-1
 * align=left|🇻🇪 Maximo Blanco
 * style="font-size:88%"|4-1, 5-0
 * 40-1
 * align=left|🇻🇪 Maximo Blanco
 * style="font-size:88%"|4-1, 5-0
 * Win
 * 39-1
 * align=left|🇭🇺 Arpad Ritter
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-0, 3-1
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|September 26, 2005
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2005 World Wrestling Championships
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5|🇭🇺 Budapest, Hungary
 * Win
 * 38-1
 * align=left| Mehdi Hajizadeh
 * style="font-size:88%"|6-0, 5-3
 * Win
 * 37-1
 * align=left|🇮🇹 Salvatore Rinella
 * style="font-size:88%"|6-1, 5-0
 * Win
 * 36-1
 * align=left|🇭🇺 Nikolay Paslar
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-0, 3-1
 * Win
 * 35-1
 * align=left|🇬🇧 Malak Mohamed Osman
 * style="font-size:88%"|2-0, 9-0
 * Win
 * 35-1
 * align=left|🇬🇧 Malak Mohamed Osman
 * style="font-size:88%"|2-0, 9-0
 * style="font-size:88%"|2-0, 9-0
 * Win
 * 34-1
 * align=left|🇰🇿 Gennadiy Laliyev
 * style="font-size:88%"|7-0
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|August 26, 2004
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2004 Olympic Games
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5| Athens, Greece
 * Win
 * 33-1
 * align=left|🇵🇱 Krystian Brzozowski
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-0
 * Win
 * 32-1
 * align=left|🇧🇾 Murad Gaidarov
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-2
 * Win
 * 31-1
 * align=left| Emzarios Bentinidis
 * style="font-size:88%"|6-1
 * Win
 * 30-1
 * align=left|🇭🇺 Arpad Ritter
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-2
 * Win
 * 30-1
 * align=left|🇭🇺 Arpad Ritter
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-2
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-2
 * Win
 * 29-1
 * align=left|🇧🇾 Murad Gaidarov
 * style="font-size:88%"|2-2
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|September 12, 2003
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2003 World Wrestling Championships
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5|🇺🇸 New York City, United States
 * Win
 * 28-1
 * align=left| Hadi Habibi
 * style="font-size:88%"|6-3
 * Win
 * 27-1
 * align=left|🇦🇺 Talgat Ilyasov
 * style="font-size:88%"|9-1
 * Win
 * 26-1
 * align=left|🇧🇬 Nikolay Paslar
 * style="font-size:88%"|4-1
 * Win
 * 25-1
 * align=left|🇸🇳 Jean Bernard Diatta
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * Win
 * 25-1
 * align=left|🇸🇳 Jean Bernard Diatta
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * Win
 * 24-1
 * align=left|🇰🇷 Moon Eui-jae
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-2
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|November 22, 2001
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|2001 World Wrestling Championships
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5|🇧🇬 Sofia, Bulgaria
 * Win
 * 23-1
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Joe Williams
 * style="font-size:88%"|5-4
 * Win
 * 22-1
 * align=left| Revaz Mindorashvili
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-2
 * Win
 * 21-1
 * align=left|🇯🇵 Kunihiko Obata
 * style="font-size:88%"|7-0
 * Win
 * 20-1
 * align=left|🇺🇿 Ruslan Khinchagov
 * style="font-size:88%"|4-3
 * Win
 * 20-1
 * align=left|🇺🇿 Ruslan Khinchagov
 * style="font-size:88%"|4-3
 * style="font-size:88%"|4-3
 * Loss
 * 19-1
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Brandon Slay
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-4
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2|September 28, 2000
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=2|2000 Olympic Games
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=2|🇦🇺 Sydney, Australia
 * Win
 * 19-0
 * align=left|🇧🇬 Plamen Paskalev
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-2
 * align=left|🇧🇬 Plamen Paskalev
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-2
 * Win
 * 18-0
 * align=left|🇰🇷 Moon Eui-jae
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-0
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|September 7, 1998
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|1998 World Wrestling Championships
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Tehran, Iran
 * Win
 * 17-0
 * align=left|🇵🇱 Marcin Jurecki
 * style="font-size:88%"|Fall
 * Win
 * 16-0
 * align=left| Alexander Kahniasvili
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * Win
 * 15-0
 * align=left|🇲🇩 Victor Peikov
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * Win
 * 15-0
 * align=left|🇲🇩 Victor Peikov
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * Win
 * 14-0
 * align=left|🇩🇪 Alexander Leipold
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-1
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|August 29, 1997
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|1997 World Wrestling Championships
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5|🇷🇺 Krasnojarsk, Russia
 * Win
 * 13-0
 * align=left|🇰🇷 Moon Eui-jae
 * style="font-size:88%"|6-2
 * Win
 * 12-0
 * align=left|🇺🇦 David Bichinashvili
 * style="font-size:88%"|7-0
 * Win
 * 11-0
 * align=left|🇭🇺 Arpad Ritter
 * style="font-size:88%"|6-0
 * Win
 * 10-0
 * align=left|🇨🇦 Nicholas Ugoalah
 * style="font-size:88%"|Fall
 * Win
 * 10-0
 * align=left|🇨🇦 Nicholas Ugoalah
 * style="font-size:88%"|Fall
 * style="font-size:88%"|Fall
 * Win
 * 9-0
 * align=left|🇰🇷 Park Jang-soon
 * style="font-size:88%"|5-0
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|July 30, 1996
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|1996 Olympic Games
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4|🇺🇸 Atlanta, United States
 * Win
 * 8-0
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Kenny Monday
 * style="font-size:88%"|6-1
 * Win
 * 7-0
 * align=left|🇩🇪 Alexander Leipold
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-1
 * Win
 * 6-0
 * align=left| Issa Momeni
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-0
 * Win
 * 6-0
 * align=left| Issa Momeni
 * style="font-size:88%"|8-0
 * Win
 * 5-0
 * align=left|🇩🇪 Alexander Leipold
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-2
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|August 10, 1995
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5|1995 World Wrestling Championships
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5|🇺🇸 Atlanta, United States
 * Win
 * 4-0
 * align=left|🇦🇿 Magomed Salam Gadshiev
 * style="font-size:88%"|3-0
 * Win
 * 3-0
 * align=left|🇲🇩 Victor Peikov
 * style="font-size:88%"|12-3
 * Win
 * 2-0
 * align=left|🇵🇱 Krzysztof Walencik
 * style="font-size:88%"|Fall
 * Win
 * 1-0
 * align=left|🇨🇺 Alberto Rodríguez
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * Win
 * 1-0
 * align=left|🇨🇺 Alberto Rodríguez
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall
 * style="font-size:88%"|Tech. Fall