At the end of the year, some sports information publications conduct a survey among their readers to determine the best athletes in Kazakhstan. As a result, each portal presents its own version of categories and nominations. Identifying the best is a process of constant debate. Therefore, let's do our own investigation, based on the average assessment of all the results obtained. In this article, we have collected the best athletes of Kazakhstan, whose names are now listed in the world sports ratings.
1st place - Gennady Golovkin (boxing): 75, 3% of votes
In 2017, the famous athlete of Kazakhstan - boxer Gennady Golovkin (also known as Triple G) had only 2 fights. The first took place on March 18 against Daniel Jacobs for the champion title in four categories at once (IBF, WBA, WBO, WBC). In the same fight, the title of super champion was played according to The Ring magazine. This is also a significant event. Gennady Golovkin is already a champion in all the listed statuses. Therefore, the Kazakh boxer only defended his title.
In Golovkin's professional career, this fight was the first in terms ofthe fact that the boxer led a 12-round fight. It was difficult. However, Gennady once again proved the superiority of the world champion in his weight category.
The second fight took place on September 16, 2017 against the Mexican Saul Alvarez. On the eve of the fight, all the world's media were full of headlines that the fight was sensational. All the belts of Gennady Golovkin were put on the line. The judges decided to declare a draw. This caused a lot of controversy among experts and boxing fans. Kazakh Triple G had no previous draws in his career.
Gennady Golovkin had an incredibly successful year and deserves to be number one in the ranking of the best athletes in Kazakhstan.
2nd place - Kairat Eraliev (boxing): 7.3% of votes
27-year-old boxer Kairat Yeraliev won a gold medal at the 2017 World Boxing Championship in Hamburg, and also won bronze at the Asian Championship in Tashkent in the bantamweight (up to 56 kg). Having defeated the American in the final, Kairat Yeraliev brought the first gold for his country at the world championship.
3rd place - Akzhurek Tanatarov (freestyle wrestling): 3.7% of votes
The top three athletes of the Republic of Kazakhstan are closed by Akzhurek Tanatorov, who in 2017 managed to win a gold medal at the Asian Championships and a bronze medal at the World Championships in the weight category up to 70 kg. Previously, the athlete was awarded bronze at the 2012 Olympics. It is surprising that in our top all the prizes were taken by representatives of martial arts. Coincidence? Hardly.
4th place - Meirambek Ainagulov (Greco-Roman wrestling): 3, 1% of votes
In August 2017, Meirambek became the vice-champion of the world in the weight category up to 59 kg (competitions were held in Paris). In May of the same year, the Greco-Roman fighter won the silver medal at the Asian competition in New Delhi.
Many experts predicted the athlete an unconditional victory at the World Championships in Paris. However, it turned out a little differently. Meirambek Ainagulov is a young and promising wrestler. Therefore, it is quite possible that next year he will please us with big victories.
5th place - Alexey Lutsenko (road cycling): 2.7% of votes
Professional Kazakh road cyclist Alexei Lutsenko in the past year became the gold medalist of the fifth stage of the Vuelta a España, the champion of Asia in Bahrain, and also managed to get bronze in the one-day race Dwars door Vlaanderen (Holland) and triumphantly finished the fifth stage of the Tour of Almaty (won 4 times in a row). The impressive result of Alexei definitely deserves a higher place. But what to do if cycling is not a popular enough sport in Kazakhstan.
6th place - Nikita Panasenko (cycling track): 2.6% of votes
This little-known Kazakh cyclist managed to win two gold medals at the World Cup cycle track. Nikita Panasenko really impressed the fans of Kazakhstan. This happened when he strategically beat his main competitor - the Greek cyclist Christos Volikakis - and became the gold medalist. This guy is the future of the Kazakh cycle track.
7th - Albert Linder (weightlifting): 2.5% of votes
Albert Linder is a young weightlifter from Kazakhstan who achieved success at the Asian Championships in 2017 (Ashgabat) in the weight category up to 69 kg. In the same year, the athlete won a gold medal at the Summer Universiade in Taipei. His main competitor was the North Korean athlete Kim Myung-hyuk. However, Albert managed to outplay him, using only two out of three possible attempts.
