Samadov was the gold medalist at the 1991 World Weightlifting Championships, representing the Soviet Union with his superior clean and jerk evening his total weight with teammate Aleksandr Blyshchyk. In 1992, Altymurat Orazdurdiyev was the favorite, but was not selected for the Unified Team by coach and Russian national hero Vasily Alekseyev because Orazdurdiyev was from Turkmenistan, while Samadov was from Russia. Thus, Samadov was the new favorite.