Vitaliy Medzhidovich Rahimov (russian: Вита́лий Меджи́дович Раги́мов born 27 August 1984,

Meghri Meghri ( hy, Մեղրի) is a town and the center of the urban community of Meghri, in Syunik Province in southern Armenia, near the border with Iran. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town was 4,580. According to the 2020 official es ...

, Armenian SSR) is an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

i athlete. Rahimov moved with his family to Azerbaijan in 1990. He has been trained in Greco-Roman wrestling since 1994. He made the Azerbaijani Olympic teams in 2004 and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. In the 2004 Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Rahimov beat

Jim Gruenwald James Matthew Gruenwald (born June 9, 1970) is a retired amateur American Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's lightweight category. He won three U.S. national titles (2003–2004, 2008), picked up a bronze medal in the 60-kg divisio ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(7-0) but was later defeated by the

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n Davor Stefanek. In the 2008

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Olympics, Rahimov reached the final having beaten

Sheng Jiang Sheng Jiang (; born March 25, 1983) is a retired Greco-Roman wrestler from China. In 2006 he won silver medals at the Asian Games and Asian Championships. He competed at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics with the best result of a bronze medal in ...

( China),

Eusebiu Diaconu Eusebiu Iancu Diaconu (born March 16, 1981 in Bacău) is an amateur Romanian Greco-Roman wrestler, who played for the men's lightweight category. He is a two-time Olympian, a three-time medalist at the European Championships, and a three-time bro ...

(

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Armen Nazaryan Armen Nazaryan ( hy, Արմեն Նազարյան, bg, Армен Назарян, born 9 March 1974) is an Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler who later represented Bulgaria. Nazaryan is a two-time Olympic Champion (1996, 2000), a three-time World C ...

(

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

), and Nurbakyt Tengizbayev (

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

) but lost to Islambek Albiev from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. On 17 November 2016 the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

disqualified him from the 2008 Olympic Games, stripped his Olympic silver medal and struck his results from the record for failing a drugs test in a re-analysis of his doping sample from 2008.

References

External links

* 1984 births Living people People from Meghri Azerbaijani male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Azerbaijan Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Doping cases in wrestling Azerbaijani sportspeople in doping cases European Wrestling Championships medalists 21st-century Azerbaijani people {{Azerbaijan-wrestling-bio-stub