About Namig Abdullayev Namig Yadulla oglu Abdullayev (born January 4, 1971, Baku) was an Azerbaijani Olympic Champion wrestler, winning a gold medal in freestyle for Azerbaijan at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He has also won three gold medals at the European Championships and 4 silver medals at the World Championships. A three-time Olympian competing at several Summer Olympics, Abdullayev won the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in the Mens Freestyle 52 kg and the gold in the Men's Freestyle 55 kg at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He also competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, but was eliminated early. Abdullayev is perhaps best known in the United States for his controversial 2000 Olympic gold-medal match against American Sammie Henson. He retired in 2009.