Kanatbek Kubatovich Begaliev (born 14 February 1984 in Talas,

Kyrgyz SSR The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirghiz SSR), also known as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kyrgyz SSR), KySSR or Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirgiz SSR), was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of ...

) is a Kyrgyz wrestler who won the silver medal in the Men's Greco-Roman 66 kg at the

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

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. After Athens 2004 where he was at 11th place he received invitation to Kazakh national team, which he accepted and also became Kazakhstan citizen. And he trained in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

within Kazakh National team until it turned out that to Olympic qualification he was not eligible to represent Kazakhstan yet, and Kanat returned to Kyrgyzstan and qualified to Beijing 2008, where he won Silver medal. Consequently, he said: “Sure, I am always thankful to Kazakhstan, all Kazakh coaches and athletes who believed in me and shared with me their knowledge and skills. I trained there and played with them football. Thus part of this medal belongs to Kazakhstan”

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* Living people Olympic silver medalists for Kyrgyzstan Olympic wrestlers for Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstani male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics 1984 births People from Talas, Kyrgyzstan Olympic medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Games competitors for Kyrgyzstan 21st-century Kyrgyzstani sportsmen {{Kyrgyzstan-wrestling-bio-stub