Farid Mansurov


Farid Mansurov is an Azerbaijani wrestler, gold medalist of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Greco-Roman wrestling at 66 kg. He retired in 2010, after conceding jaw injury during 2010 European Wrestling Championship. In 2010—2011, he coached the Azerbaijani national wrestling team. He is the head of the sport department in The Ministry of Youth and Sport of the Republic of Azerbaijan since 2016. He is also Vice President of Youth Wrestling Federation of Azerbaijan.

Career

In 1992, he started to train under the leadership of Alikulu Hasanoglu in Neftchi Sport Society. He achieved his first success in 1997. He took 2nd place in the World Championship among juniors. However, in 1998, he was unlucky in the junior Olympics so, he heavily injured his wrist during the semi-final match with a Cuban athlete.
Farid Mansurov won the first place in the men's championship of Azerbaijan in 2000. A year later, He won gold medal in the World Championship held in Uzbekistan. In 2003, he won several Grand Prix tournaments and won the license to participate in the Athens Olympics 2004. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he won the Olympic Champion title in the 66 kg on Greco-Roman wrestling. He has been unable to train because of his back injury for three years after 2004. In 2007, he returned to the sport and won a gold medal at the World Championship which took place in Baku and get the license for 2008 Summer Olympics. He was defeated due to his illness in the Beijing Olympic 2008. After this failure, in 2009, he became the World Champion for the second time.
On June 30, 2010, Farid Mansurov announced his retirement from the sport due to his injury in the last World Championship. On the same day, he was appointed as the head coach of the Greco-Roman wrestling team of Azerbaijan.