Besik Kudukhov

Besik Kudukhov

Personal information
Birth name	Besik Serodinovich Kudukhov
Born	(1986-08-15)15 August 1986 Tskhilon, South Ossetia
Died	29 December 2013(2013-12-29) (aged 27) Krasnodar Krai, Russia
Height	164 cm (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Sport
Sport	Wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle
Club	SC Alany[2] CSKA Moscow[1]
Coached by	Valentin Gozoev Aleksey Safronov[1]
Medal record Representing  Russia Olympic Games 2008 Beijing 55 kg 2012 London 60 kg World Championships 2006 Guangzhou 55 kg 2007 Baku 55 kg 2009 Herning 60 kg 2010 Moscow 60 kg 2011 Istanbul 60 kg European Championships 2007 Sofia 55 kg

Besik Serodinovich Kudukhov (Russian: Бесик Серoдинович Кудухов; 15 August 1986 – 29 December 2013) was a Russian freestyle wrestler of Ossetian descent. He won a bronze medal in the 55 kg category at the 2008 Olympics and a silver medal in the 60 kg division at the 2012 London Games.^[2]

Career

Kudukhov took up wrestling in 1995 and was selected for the Russian national team in 2005. He was an Olympic finalist in 2012 and was considered one of the most dominant wrestlers in modern wrestling history. He was a world champion four times across two weight classes winning every world championship he competed in from 2007 to 2011. He was a finalist in the 2006 World Championships in Guangzhou, China at the age of 20. He was also a European Champion in 2007.^[2][1]

Kudukhov died on 29 December 2013 in a car crash on a federal highway in southern Russia between Krasnodar Krai and Vladikavkaz. He lost control over his car and collided with an incoming truck.^[2][3]

On 29 August 2016, a report indicated that a retested sample for Kudukhov taken at the time of the 2012 Olympic 60 kg freestyle wrestling event, had returned a positive result (later disclosed as dehydrochlormethyltestosterone).^[4] On 27 October 2016, the IOC stated that the fact that Kudukhov had died was not known when the decision to include his samples in the re-analysis process was made. The IOC dropped all disciplinary proceedings, stating that such proceedings cannot be conducted against a deceased person. As a result, it said, Olympic results that would have been reviewed will remain uncorrected, which is the unavoidable consequence of the fact that the proceedings cannot move forward.^[5] Yogeshwar Dutt, the bronze medal winner, had earlier refused to accept the silver medal and wished for Kudukhov's family to retain it.^[6]

References