Ruslan Sheikov

Ruslan Schamilowitsch Scheikow ( Russian Руслан Шамильевич Шейхов ; Belarusian Руслан Шэйхаў ; born June 4, 1977 in Uri , Dagestani ASSR , Soviet Union ) is a Belarusian wrestler who originally competed in the Russian province of Tajikistan . He won a total of four medals at world and European championships and is a 2012 Olympic competitor in London in free style in light heavyweight .

Career

Ruslan Scheikow is one of the many wrestlers from the Russian province of Dagestan. He started wrestling there in 1990 and focused on the free style. Since he could not qualify for international championships in Russia because of the great competition for excellent wrestlers, he took on the Tajik nationality in 2004 and tried to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens . He did not succeed in this in two tournaments. He therefore went to Belarus in 2005 and took citizenship of that country (the third in two years). He then stayed in Belarus. He has been trained by Valentin Morsinkow since 2005. By profession he is a wrestler and trainer in the Belarusian wrestling center Logoisk .

In 2006 he started for Belarus for the first time at an international championship, the European Championship in Moscow . In the light heavyweight division he came to victories over Ilimdar Sadschidow, Ukraine and Vincent Aka Akesse from France . Then he lost to Chadschimurad Gazalow from Russia and in the battle for a bronze medal against Georgi Gogschelidze from Georgia . His 5th place was a good debut at a European Championship, considering that he was 29 years old at the time. He did even better a few months later at the 2006 World Cup in Guangzhou . There he won over Francesco Miano-Petta from Italy , Patal Hropit from India and Wassili Tesmenezki from Ukraine. In the semifinals he lost again to Georgi Gogschelidze, but in the fight for a world championship bronze medal he defeated the former world champion Alireza Heidari from Iran .

In 2007 Ruslan Scheikow was vice European light heavyweight champion in Sofia . On the way to this success he defeated Mindaugas Rumbutis, Lithuania , Anatoli Moldovan from Moldova and Shamil Gitinow from Armenia , before losing in the final to Shirvani Muradow from Russia. He did less well at this year's World Cup in Baku . He won there over Gergely Kiss from Hungary and Nikolai Schterew from Bulgaria , but after a defeat against Daniel Cormier from the United States he was eliminated and only came in 11th place. In 2008 he only started at the European Championships in Tampere . There he defeated Bartłomiej Bartnicki from Poland , lost to his feared opponent Georgi Gogschelidze, then defeated Nikolai Schterew and Nicolai Ceban from Moldova, but was defeated in the battle for a bronze medal to the 2004 Olympic champion, Chadschimurad Gazalow. He came back to 5th place. For participation in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing , he could not qualify.

In 2009 he did not win any medals at the International Championships. But he achieved respectable placements with a 7th place at the European Championships in Vilnius , where he started in the heavyweight division and a 5th place at the World Championships in Herning / Denmark , where he again competed in the light heavyweight division. In 2010 and 2011 he only started at the World Championships in Moscow and Istanbul . At both championships he won a bronze medal in the light heavyweight division. In Moscow he lost to Chetag Gasjumow from Azerbaijan and won the medal by winning the consolation round over Chetag Pliew from Canada and Aleksei Krupnjakow from Kyrgyzstan and in Istanbul he lost to Reza Yazdani from Iran and won the bronze medal by victories over Gergely Kiss and Sinivie Boltic from Nigeria .

By winning the bronze medal in 2011, Ruslan Scheikow had also won the right to start at the Olympic Games in London . In London, he took part in the Olympic Games for the first time at the age of 35. However, there he lost his first fight against the 2010 world champion Chetag Gasjumow. Since Gasjumow missed the final, Ruslan Scheikow was eliminated after this defeat and only came in 17th place.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
2004	11.	Olympic qualification tournament in Bratislava	Semi-difficult	Winner. Magomed Ibramigow, Russia ahead of Fatih Çakıroğlu , Turkey
2004	18th	Olympic qualification tournament in Sofia	Semi-difficult	Winner: Aleksei Krupnjakow, Kyrgyzstan ahead of Peter Pecha, Slovakia
2006	5.	EM in Moscow	Semi-difficult	after victories over Ilimdar Sadschidow, Ukraine and Vincent Aka Akesse, France and defeats against Chadschimurad Gazalow, Russia and Georgi Gogschelidze, Georgia
2006	3.	World Cup in Guangzhou	Semi-difficult	after victories over Francesco Miano-Petta, Italy, Patal Hropit, India and Wassili Tesmenezki, Ukraine, a defeat against Georgi Gogschelidze and a victory over Alireza Heidari, Iran
2007	2.	EM in Sofia	Semi-difficult	after victories over Mindaugas Rumbutis, Lithuania, Anatoli Moldovan, Moldova and Shamil Gitinow, Armenia and a defeat against Shirvani Muradow, Russia
2007	11.	World Cup in Baku	Semi-difficult	after victories over Gergely Kiss, Hungary and Nikolai Schterew, Bulgaria and a defeat against Daniel Cormier, USA
2008	5.	EM in Tampere	Semi-difficult	after victory over Bartłomiej Bartnicki , Poland, defeat against Georgi Gogschelidze, victories over Nikolai Schterew and Nicolei Cerban, Moldova and defeat against Chadschimurad Gazalow
2009	7th	EM in Vilnius	Heavy	after defeating Francesco Miano-Petta and losing to Ali Issajew , Azerbaijan and Ioannidis Arzoumanidis , Greece
2009	5.	World Cup in Herning / Denmark	Semi-difficult	after victories over Valeri Andriizew , Ukraine, Edgar Janokjan, Armenia and Moustafa Saleh Emara, Egypt and defeats against Chetag Gasjumow , Azerbaijan and Serhat Balci , Turkey
2010	3.	World Cup in Moscow	Heavy	behind Tervel Dlagnev , USA and Biljal Machow , Russia, together with Fatih Çakıroğlu , Turkey
2010	3.	World Cup in Moscow	Semi-difficult	after victories over Alexander Grigoryev, Macedonia and Sinivie Boltic, Nigeria, a defeat against Chetag Gasjumow and victories over Chetag Pliew, Canada and Aleksei Krupnjakow
2011	3.	World Cup in Istanbul	Semi-difficult	after victories over Raja Alkrad, Syria and Chetag Gasjumow, a defeat against Reza Yazdani, Iran and victories over Gergely Kiss ö and Sinivie Boltic
2012	10.	Grand Prix of Spain in Madrid	Heavy	Winner: Komeil Ghasemi , Iran ahead of Dániel Ligeti , Hungary
2012	17th	OS in London	Semi-difficult	after a loss to Chetag Gasjumov
2012	1.	"Alexander Medved" Prize in Minsk	Heavy	before Igor Dschiatko , Belarus, Michail Dazenko, Ukraine and Jaber Sadeghzadehnoukoulaei, Iran

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship
• Lightweight, weight class up to 96 kg, heavyweight, up to 120 kg body weight

literature

• Trade journal Der Ringer

Web links

• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website
• Ruslan Scheikow in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )