Bakhtiyar Artayev
Bakhtiyar Karipullauly Artayev (, "Baqtiiar Ğarifollaūly Artaev"; born 14 March 1983) is a Kazakh boxer who won the gold medal for Kazakhstan at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was also the winner of the Val Barker Trophy for the outstanding boxer of the 2004 Olympics. In recognition of his success, one of the Taraz sport centres was named after him. In 2012 he was appointed as a president of the Astana Presidential Sports Club. Career. Bakhtiyar Artayev was born in 1983 to a Muslim family in the city of Taraz, Kazakhstan. He is the son of Qaribullah (Karipulla) Artayev . Bakhtiyar won his first competition, a regional children's tournament, trained by Nurlan Akurpekov, who still coaches him today. Before the 2004 Summer Olympics he tended to play second fiddle in the Kazakhstan boxing team, fighting only in Kazakhstan amateur tournaments. Nevertheless, he participated in 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he lost in the quarterfinals. Before the 2004 Summer Olympics he had not been considered as a favourite in a welterweight division. He qualified for the Athens Games by ending up in first place in the 2nd AIBA Asian 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Karachi, Pakistan. In the final  he defeated Iran's S Karimi Ahmedabad. Surprisingly, in Athens he easily advanced into semi-finals where he defeated the two-time Olympic champion Oleg Saitov from Russia. In the final, Bakhtiyar defeated a Cuban boxer Lorenzo Aragon, who had not lost a bout for a year and a half. Artayev won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Mianyang, China and went up to middleweight. Artayev's results are as follows: 2004 Summer Olympics: 2007 World Championship: 2008 Summer Olympics: