İslam Duquçiyev

Born in Kazakhstan, İslam Duquçiyev’s family later moved to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, where he took up wrestling in 1978. After winning gold and silver at the 1984 and 1986 European Junior Championships respectively, Duquçiyev made the Soviet national team in 1988. Duquçiyev, who wrestled in the Greco-Roman lightweight class most of his career, was considered the world’s best lightweight Greco-Roman wrestler in the early 1990s, although he never won the highest prize available, an Olympic gold medal. A World Champion in 1990-91 and European Champion in 1990, Duquçiyev went to the 1992 Olympics as the favorite for the Olympic Greco-Roman lightweight title, but an unexpected loss by decision in the gold medal match against Hungarian Attila Repka left him with silver. Representing Russia, Duquçiyev won the 1993 and 1994 World Championships and the 1993 European Championships, while taking bronze at the 1994 European Championships, but a serious cervical disc injury sustained during the 1995 World Championships prevented him from qualifying to the 1996 Olympics, leading Duquçiyev to retire from sports. He also won the World Cup in 1989 and was the Soviet Champion in 1988 and 1989. After his forced retirement, Duquçiyev worked as a wrestling coach, but staged a comeback to compete at the 2000 Olympics. He was not selected for the Russian team, but was invited by the Azerbaijani Wrestling Federation to compete under their flag. Duquçiyev finished sixth at his second appearance in the Olympic arena in the Greco-Roman lightweight division. He retired from wrestling again after the Olympics and resumed his work as a wrestling coach, being the head coach of Russian national Greco-Roman wrestling cadets team. He was elected to the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.