Rustam Aghayev (Azerbaijani: Rüstəm Ağayev; born 1 May 1982 in Moscow, Russian SFSR) is a retired amateur Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's heavyweight category.[1] He won a bronze medal in the 96-kg division at the 2004 European Wrestling Championships in Ankara, Turkey, and then represented his nation Azerbaijan at the Summer Olympics a few months later. Throughout his sporting career, Aghayev trained for Neftçi Sports Club in Baku, under his personal coach and mentor Dyevanshir Kurbanov.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rustam Aghayev | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Azerbaijan | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 1 May 1982 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 96 kg (212 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||
| Style | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Neftçi Baku (AZE) | ||||||||||||||
| Coach | Dyevanshir Kurbanov | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Aghayev qualified for his adopted Azerbaijan squad in the men's heavyweight class (96 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by placing third and receiving a berth from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bratislava, Slovakia.[2][3] In the prelim pool, Aghayev eclipsed Kazakhstan's Islam Bairamukov with a 7–2 division on his opening bout, and grappled Namibia's Nico Jacobs into the ring at the peak of the first minute by an eleven-point advantage, earning him a spot for the quarterfinals. Followed by the next day's session, Aghayev could not push Iranian wrestler Alireza Heidari off the mat with a 5–0 defeat in the quarterfinal match, but offered a chance to redeem himself as he pinned China's Wang Yuanyuan in nearly a full minute for a fifth-place finish.[4]