Wrestler equals record with third gold

Beijing -- Buvaysa Saytiev of Russia became the second wrestler in Olympic history to win three gold medals Wednesday.

For the third straight Games, Saytiev won the championships in the men's 74-kilogram weight class.

Saytiev defeated Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan 3-1 in the final match, joining Soviet wrestler Alexander Medved as the only three-time Olympic winners in their sport. Beginning in 1964, Medved competed in Tokyo, Mexico City and Munich.

The bronze medals in the 74-kilogram class went to Murad Gaidarov of Belarus and Kiril Terziev of Bulgaria.

In the 66-kilogram class, Turkey's Ramazan Sahin came from behind in the final bout to defeat Andriy Stadnik of Ukraine 2-1. Sahin won the world and European championships last year.

Stadnik is the husband of woman's 48-kilogram bronze medalist Mariya Stadnik.

"It is nice to realize that you can compete against your own wife," he said.

Bronze medals went to India's Sushil Kumar and Georgia's Otar Tushishvili. It was India's second medal of the Olympics, only the second time in history that country has won two medals in a single Games. India also won two medals in 1952.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.