Adam Hamidovich Saitiev, also spelled Saytiev, ( ce, Адам Хамидович Сайтиев, born December 12, 1977) is a Russian

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

of Chechen descent who won gold at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

for the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

at 85 kg cat. Adam also won the Wrestling World Championships in 1999 and 2002. His elder brother Buvaisar Saitiev, also a wrestler, won gold in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

and again in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Wrestling career

Adam initially started his senior-level international career at 69 kg, or around 152 lbs. He found the weight cut too severe, and soon moved up to 76 kg, where he was world champ in 1999. However, this was his elder brother Buvaisar's weight, and Adam wanted to compete alongside his brother at the Olympics, not compete with him for a spot on the team. Adam moved up to 85 kg, and despite being undersized, won two world-level titles at the weight. Saitiev competed many times throughout after 2002. But his career had many injuries. Saitiev made a comeback in 2012. He found significant success, but in the Russian freestyle wrestling championships 2012 final match lost to

Denis Tsargush Denís Tsargúsh ( ab, Дени́с Царгәы́ш, IPA /dɛˈnis t͡sʰɑrˈgʷɨʂ/, born 1 September 1987 in Gudauta, Abkhazia, Georgia, also known as Dinislam Tsargush, is a Russian freestyle wrestler of Abkhaz descent. He is a three-time ...

(1-0; 1-0) Adam is a recipient of the Order of Honor (2001) and

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds ...

(2004).

Match results

{, class="wikitable collapsible" ! colspan="7", World Championships & Olympic Games Matches , - ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 21-3 , align=left,

Yoel Romero Yoel Romero Palacio (born April 30, 1977) is a Cuban professional mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division for Bellator MMA. Romero formerly competed in the Middleweight divi ...

, style="font-size:88%", 4-3 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, September 5, 2002 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5,

2002 World Wrestling Championships The following are the final results of the 2002 World Wrestling Championships. The 36th Men's Freestyle Competition was held in Tehran, Iran, while the 47th Men's Greco-Roman Competition was staged in Moscow, Russia and the 15th Women's Competitio ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5,

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, - , Win , 20-3 , align=left, Arkadii Tzopa , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 19-3 , align=left, Marcin Jurecki , style="font-size:88%", 7-3 , - , Win , 18-3 , align=left, Aman Deep , style="font-size:88%", Tech. Fall , - , Win , 17-3 , align=left, Narantsetseg Burenbaatar , style="font-size:88%", Tech. Fall , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 16-3 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", Fall , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5, September 28, 2000 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=5,

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=5,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, - , Win , 15-3 , align=left, Magomed Ibragimov , style="font-size:88%", 3-0 , - , Win , 14-3 , align=left,

Yang Hyung-mo Yang Hyung-mo (양형모, born 23 March 1971) is a Korean former wrestler who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics and in the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as ...

, style="font-size:88%", 5-0 , - , Win , 13-3 , align=left, Igor Praporshchikov , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 12-3 , align=left, Beibulat Musaev , style="font-size:88%", 4-1 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 11-3 , align=left,

Alexander Leipold Alexander Leipold (born 2 June 1969 in Alzenau in Unterfranken) is a German former freestyle wrestler who won the German Championships eleven times, the European Championships three times, the World Championships in 1994, and won the tournament a ...

, style="font-size:88%", 6-3 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6, October 7, 1999 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6,

1999 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 1999 World Wrestling Championships. Men's Freestyle competition were held in Ankara, Turkey. Men's Greco-Roman competition were held in Athens, Greece and Women's competition were held in Boden, Sweden. ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=6,

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, - , Win , 10-3 , align=left, Joe Williams , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 9-3 , align=left, Alik Musaev , style="font-size:88%", 4-0 , - , Win , 8-3 , align=left, Arpad Ritter , style="font-size:88%", 11-3 , - , Win , 7-3 , align=left, Radoslaw Horbik , style="font-size:88%", 9-0 , - , Win , 6-3 , align=left, Ruslan Khinchagov , style="font-size:88%", 7-1 , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Loss , 5-3 , align=left, Davoud Ghanbari , style="font-size:88%", Inj. Def. , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=8, August 29, 1997 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=8,

1997 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 1997 World Wrestling Championships. Men's Freestyle competition were held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Men's Greco-Roman competition were held in Wrocław, Poland and Women's competition were held in Clermont ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=8,

Krasnojarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Kr ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, - , Loss , 5-2 , align=left, Zaza Zazirov , style="font-size:88%", 2-4 , - , Win , 5-1 , align=left,

Yüksel Şanlı Yüksel Şanlı (born November 14, 1973) is a former competitor in Freestyle Wrestling from Turkey. Şanlı was in the 1996 Olympic Games and the 2000 Olympic Games. He finished 15th in 1996 and 9th in 2000. He also represented Turkey at the Wo ...

, style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 4-1 , align=left, Almazbek Askarov , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 3-1 , align=left, David Gagishvili , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 2-1 , align=left, Elchad Allakhverdiev , style="font-size:88%", 4-2 , - , Loss , 1-1 , align=left, Igor Kupeev , style="font-size:88%", 2-5 , - , Win , 1-0 , align=left, Juan Carlos Rivero , style="font-size:88%", Tech. Fall , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saitiev, Adam 1977 births Chechen martial artists Living people Olympic gold medalists for Russia Olympic wrestlers of Russia Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Russian male sport wrestlers People from Khasavyurt Olympic medalists in wrestling Russian people of Chechen descent Chechen sportsmen World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics European Wrestling Championships medalists Sportspeople from Dagestan 20th-century Russian people 21st-century Russian people