Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov ( kz, Жақсылық Әмірәліұлы Үшкемпіров; 6 May 1951 – 2 August 2020) was a light-flyweight Greco-Roman wrestler from

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. He won an Olympic gold medal in 1980 and a world title in 1981. Ushkempirov took up wrestling in 1969 and won the Soviet title in 1975 and 1980. After retiring from competitions he worked as director of a sports school in

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

in 1984–1993. In 1993 he founded the sports club Zhaksylyk and served as its president. Since 2001, an annual junior wrestling tournament has been held in Almaty in his honor.

Memory

In 2019, a feature film "Zhaksylyk" (Kazakhstan) was shot about the life of Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov. Ushkempirov was played by Elnar Nazarkul and Sanurzhan Suleimenov in his youth and adolescence, and the role of a 60-year-old athlete was played by Doszhan Zhanbotaev. On December 2, 2020, the Martial Arts Palace in Nur-Sultan was renamed in honor of Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov. On September 8, 2021, a monument was unveiled next to him

References

1951 births 2020 deaths People from Jambyl Region Soviet male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for the Soviet Union Wrestlers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Kazakhstani male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in wrestling Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics {{USSR-wrestling-bio-stub