Athletics

Athletics

Dmitriy Karpov is a distinguished decathlete, taking bronze in both the 2004 Summer Olympics, and the 2003 and 2007 World Athletics Championships. Olga Rypakova is an athlete, specialized in Triple Jump (women's), taking silver in the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.

Boxing

Kazakh boxers are generally well known in the world. In the last three Olympic Games, their performance was assessed as one of the best and they had more medals than any country in the world, except Cuba and Russia (in all three games). In 1996 and 2004, two Kazakh boxers (Vasiliy Jirov in 1996 andBakhtiyar Artayev in 2004) were recognized as the best boxers for their techniques with the Val Barker trophy, awarded to the best boxer of the tournament.

In boxing, Kazakhstan performed well in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Two boxers, Bekzat Sattarkhanov and Yermakhan Ibraimov, earned gold medals. Another two boxers, Bulat Jumadilov and Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov, earned silver medals.

It should also be noted that Oleg Maskaev, born in Zhambyl, representing Russia, was the WBC Heavyweight Champion after knocking out Hasim Rahmanon August 12, 2006.

Cross-country skiing

Skier Vladimir Smirnov won seven medals in total in the 1988, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics, including a gold in the 50 km competition in 1994. He also won 11 medals in total in the World Championships from 1987 to 1995, including four gold medals. During the first part of his active career, he represented the Soviet Union, in the later part Kazakhstan.

Cycling

Cycling is Kazakhstan's most successful sport. Alexander Vinokourov represented Kazakhstan in his cycling career for the Astana. Vinokourov had an impressive cycling record finishing third overall in the 2003 Tour de France. Vinokourov finished 5th in the 2005 Tour de France, while two other young Kazakhstanis, Andrej Kashechkin and Maxim Iglinsky, finished 19th and 37th, respectively. In 2006, Vinokourov's team became known as Astana, after a drug doping scandal forced his team Liberty Seguros from the 2006 Tour de France. Vinokourov helped form a new team funded by a conglomeration of Kazakhstan businesses and adopted the color of the Kazakh flag for its uniforms. That same year, Vinokourov and Kashechkin took first and third places in general classification at Vuelta a España in Spain. Vinokourov won the gold medal in the Cycling Road Race at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Ice hockey

The Kazakh national ice hockey team have competed in ice hockey in the 1998 and 2006 Winter Olympics, as well as in the2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. Kazakhstan has seven teams. The teams are Kaztsink-Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhmys Satpaev, Gornyak Rudnyi, Barys Astana, Irtysh Pavlodar, Yenbek Almaty, and Sary-Arka Karagandy. Most teams also play in Russian Hockey Leagues. Top Kazakhstani ice hockey players include Nik Antropov and Evgeni Nabokov. Barys Astana is the main domestic Kazakh ice hockey professional team, and having played in the Kazakh national league until the 2008-2009 season, when they were transferred to play in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Rhythmic gymnastics

Aliya Yussupova was placed 4th in the Summer Olympic Games in Athens. She has been among the medalist winners in several previous tournaments. Currently, she is considered to be one of the top rhythmic gymnasts in the world. After the retiring of Aliya Yussupova in the end of 2009, Kazakhstan maintained its top place in the world thanks to the emerge of Anna Alyabyeva who knows represent the nation in the international tournaments, grand prix, and world championship.

Weightlifting

• Ilya Ilin - Competing in the 94kg mens category, he is currently one of the best weightlifters in the world. He is one the few weightlifters who have won two consecutive gold medals at the Olympics, the first at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and the second at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. He created a new world record in the 94kg category for Clean & Jerk (233kg) and the Total (418kg) at London.