Uzbekistan Heavyweight Artur Taymazov Wins 3rd Straight Olympic Gold Medal

As a young boy in Russia, Artur Taymazov dreamed of becoming the next Alexander Karelin. He did it.Taymazov of Uzbekistan won his third straight Olympic wrestling gold in men&120-kg division on Saturday night, beating Georgia&Davit Modzmanashvili to become the third male wrestler to win gold medals in three straight Olympics. Taymazov, who grew up in Russia and moved to Uzbekistan ahead of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, joins Alexander Medved of the former Soviet Union and Karelin as three-time winners. Taymazov, by virtue of his silver in Sydney in 2000, also equaled Karelin&Olympic medal haul in Greco-Roman wrestling. Taymazov quickly acknowledged that Karelin should still be ranked higher because he&won more world championships, but in terms of the Olympics Taymazov has matched him. "He&the name in wrestling, and I&really, really glad that I&equalized with him on the medal total," Taymazov said. "I wanted to be like (Karelin), and now I am." At 33 years old, many wondered if Taymazov had enough left to make a run at another gold medal. He showed the quickness of a teenager in beating Modzmanashvili in the first period, escaping a leg clinch and scoring in just five seconds to break a scoreless tie. "I was thinking about it all the time...I wanted the third gold as well," Taymazov said. "It was my dream. I didn&think about anything else." A pair of Azerbaijanis; Toghrul Asgarov and Sharif Sharifov, also won gold medals Saturday. Asgarov won the Olympic wrestling...