Daulet Turlykhanov

Kazakh Daulet Turlykhanov took up wrestling in 1976 and made the Soviet national team 10 years later. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Turlykhanov represented his native Kazakhstan. Until 1990, Turlykhanov wrestled in the Greco-Roman welterweight class and was later a middleweight. During his career he won Olympic silver in 1988 and bronze in 1992, and was 1989 World Champion and 1987 European Champion. He also won the World Cup in 1986 and 1990, the Asian Championships in 1995, the Asian Games in 1994, silver at the 1993 World Championships and bronze at the 1987 World Championships. Turlykhanov also competed at the 1996 Olympics, where he finished an unfortunate fourth. He also won four Soviet welterweight titles (1986-89) and two middleweight titles (1990-91). Even while competing, beginning in 1993, Turlykhanov acted as head coach of Kazakh national Greco-Roman team. In 1992 he became president of the Daulet wrestling club in Almaty. From 1996-99 he was a member of the Kazakh parliament, from 2000-04 he was chairman of the Kazakhstan National Tourism and Sports Agency, and from 2004-06 he was chairman of the sports committee for the Kazakh Ministry of Culture. In 1995 Turlykhanov was elected as honorary president of the Kazakhstan Wrestling Federation and from 2001-05 he was vice-president of the Asian Wrestling Federation. In 2012 he was appointed as the honorary consul to Belarus in Kazakhstan.