Buvaisar Hamidovich Saitiev, also spelled Buvaysar Hamidovich Saytiev, (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. In 2007, Saitiev, alongside Aleksandr Karelin, were voted the best wrestlers in the history of the sport by FILA. 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. Saitiev is a practicing Muslim.

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. 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. In 2007, according to media reports, Saitiev's training in was hampered by a neck injury. Despite his success, Saitiev suffered a number of losses in his senior career. He suffered his first loss in his senior career at the 1994 World Wrestling Cup to Davoud Ghanbari. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Saitiev lost to Brandon Slay. Saitiev lost to Magomed Isagadzhiev at the 2002 Russian Nationals. Saitiev then lost to Mihail Ganev at the 2006 World Wrestling Championships. Saitiev lost at the 2007 Russian Nationals to Makhach Murtazaliev. He then lost at the 2008 Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix, also to Murtazaliev. 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