Magomedkhan Aratsilov

Magomedkhan Aratsilov took up wrestling in 1968 and made the Soviet national team in 1975, after winning his first Soviet title. Aratsilov, who competed as a middleweight freestyler his entire career, won Olympic silver in 1980, was the 1978 World Champion, took World silver in 1977 and bronze in 1979 and won the 1976 World Cup. He also won the Soviet title four times (1975, 1977, 1979-80). After retiring from competition in 1981, Aratsilov worked as a wrestling coach. He was coach of the Soviet national freestyle team, before becoming head coach of the Turkish national freestyle team in the 1990s. From 2007-09 he was head coach of the Azerbaijani national freestyle team and later briefly worked with the Iranian national freestyle team. In 2011 Aratsilov was elected to the People’s Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan and he also owns a travel agency in Makhachkala.