Abdulrashid Sadulaev has been one of the best wrestlers in the world for a decade now winning his first world title back at Tashkent in 2014. Sadulaev currently has 5 world titles and 2 Olympic gold medals to his name. However this is a lot of doubt for his shape coming into the Paris Olympics.
Sadulaev will be the 7 seed at the Olympic Games, Akhmed Tazhudinov and Kyle Snyder will be the 2 and 3 seed which means he will need to go through both of them to win gold. Last year at the world championships Tazhudinov teched Kyle Snyder and was dominating against Sadulaev before the injury default, then ultimately went on to win gold himself.
Rio 2016:
Coming into the 2016 Olympics in Rio Sadulaev was already the clear favorite to win as he had dominated his way through the world championships in 2014 and 2015. At only 20 years old it
Sadulaev only conceded a single point throughout the tournament on his way to gold, and that came in an 8-1 victory over reigning Olympic Champion Sharif Sharifov.
Paris 2017:
If there is any true falter in his career it would be the 2017 world championships in Paris. Sadulaev decided to make the move up to 97kgs for worlds which would inevitably lead to a super match with Rio Olympic Champion Kyle Snyder initiating one of the greatest rivalries in the history of this sport.
It would be a back and forth battle in the finals but at the end Snyder would pull off the comeback to win gold handing the Russian his second ever loss in senior level competition.
Tokyo 2020:
Sadulaev came back from the loss to Snyder at the 2017 world championships and was able to win worlds in 2018 and 2019 without much issue and even pinned Snyder in the 2018 world finals.
At the 2020 Olympics Sadulaev would walk through a minefield absolutely unfazed as he picked up wins over Sharif Sharifov (Azerbaijan), Elizbar Odikadze (Georgia), Reineris Salas-Perez (Cuba), and Kyle Snyder (United States) and none of them looked to be necessarily competitive except for the finals match against Snyder as he won 6-3.
Belgrade 2023:
The 2023 world championships in Belgrade would be the most shocking performance of Sadulaev’s career as he lost in the semifinals to Akhmed Tazhudinov of Bahrain after injury defaulting down 9-2 and forfeited his bronze medal match to Kyle Snyder resulting in a 5th place finish.
Paris 2024:
Sadulaev has said in the past that this may be the final event of his wrestling career if he won a 3rd olympic gold medal here.
Looking at the field there is no way in practicality to say that Akhmed Tazhudinov is not the favorite but if Sadulaev is healthy and performing at a high level I’m not sure there is anyone in the world that can touch him.