Background and career
Artur Borisovich Taymazov (Iron Ossetic: Таймазты Барисы фырт Артур; Russian: Артур Борисович Таймазов; born 20 July 1979) is an Uzbek-Russian wrestler and politician and an ethnic Ossetian. He was Uzbekistan's most decorated Olympian before being stripped of two gold medals for doping. In 2016, he was elected to the 7th State Duma of the Russian Federation representing United Russia.
On 5 April 2017, it was announced that as a result of retesting samples he had been disqualified from the 2008 Olympics for a drug violation, and his gold medal was withdrawn. On 23 July 2019, it was announced that as a result of retesting samples he had been disqualified from the 2012 Olympics for a drug violation, and his gold medal from that event was also withdrawn. As both of his gold medals were re-allocated to Russian wrestlers, Taymazov said he was nonetheless happy to "bring" two golds to Russia.
