Bakhtiyar Artayev

Artayev won his first competition, a regional children's tournament, trained by Nurlan Akurpekov, who still coaches Artayev today. Before the 2004 Summer Olympics he tended to play second fiddle in the Kazakhstan boxing team, fighting only in Kazakhstan amateur tournaments. Nevertheless, he participated in 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he lost in the quarterfinals.

Before the 2004 Summer Olympics he had not been considered as a favourite in a welterweight division. He qualified for the Athens Games by ending up in first place in the 2nd AIBA Asian 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Karachi, Pakistan. In the final he defeated Iran's S Karimi Ahmedabad. Surprisingly, in Athens he easily advanced into semi-finals where he defeated the two-time Olympic champion Oleg Saitov from Russia. In the final, Bakhtiyar defeated a Cuban boxer Lorenzo Aragon, who had not lost a bout for a year and a half.

Artayev won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Mianyang, China and went up to middleweight.

Artayev's results are as follows:

2004 Summer Olympics:

• Round of 32: Defeated Willy Bertrand Tankeu (Cameroon) Wipeout points stoppage
• Round of 16: Defeated Aliasker Bashirov (Turkmenistan) 33–23
• Quarterfinals: Defeated Viktor Polyakov (Ukraine) RSC-3 (0:50)
• Semifinals: Defeated Oleg Saitov (Russia) 20–18
• Gold Medal Match: Defeated Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros (Cuba) 36–26

2007 World Championship:

• Round of 64: Defeated Nakani Giorgi RSCI R2 (1:43)
• Round of 32: Defeated CHO Deok-Jin RSC R4 (0:55)
• Round of 16: Defeated Prasathinphimai Suriya 20:7
• Quarterfinals: Defeated Said Rachidi 19:11
• Semifinals: Lost to Alfonso Blanco 7:15

2008 Summer Olympics:

• Round of 32: Defeated Said Rachidi 8:2
• Round of 16: Defeated Matvey Korobov 10:7
• Quarterfinals: Lost to James Degale 3:8