Buvaisar Saitiev

In 1992, Buvaisar left his hometown of Khasavyurt, Dagestan in order to train at a prestigious wrestling center in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. His younger brother Adam Saitiev would follow in his footsteps.

Saitiev has won nine world-level gold medals. He is a six-time world champion and a three-time Olympic champion. His senior-level international career began in 1994 and, to date, has continued on through the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. In thirteen years, he's entered eleven world championship tournaments, won nine world championship tournaments, and lost only two bouts.

In 1999, Buvaisar did not wrestle at the world championships. Instead his weight class was represented by his younger brother Adam, who won a gold medal. Saitiev also did not compete at the world championships in 2002. He lost to Magomed Isagadjiev at the 2002 Russian Nationals. Isagadjiev went on the win a silver medal at the world championships. In 2007 Saitiev was beat out for the Russian team by Makhach Murtazaliev, who went on to win the world title. According to media reports, Saitiev's training in 2007 was hampered by a neck injury

Soon after graduating from the training center, Saitiev began his quest to represent Russia on the world stage. Buvaisar has been decorated with the Order of Friendship by the Russian president. His younger brother Adam Saitiev, also a wrestler, won gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.