Born in Kazakhstan on January 3, 1981, Aziz Mamadjanovich Ulakhunov is known for his excellent coaching skills in the wrestling department. He has earned the title of master of sports and currently heads an Uzbekistanian Dynamo wrestling club and a national freestyle wrestling team.
As a child, Aziz could manifest his physical energy in basketball, soccer, and on the horizontal bar. Physical education was the most exciting class for him because of his jovialness. Outside of school, his mornings were full of running and strength exercises, such as squats, pull-ups, and push-ups. His father had instructed him to do his exercises so Aziz could discipline himself.
At ten years old, Aziz learned about freestyle wrestling from Dilshod Mansurvoc. Dilshod was his friend and a partaker of the Olympic games, and thus, he motivated Aziz to continue to train and challenge himself.
In 1990, Ulakhunov transferred to Uzbekistan. His father had been trading jobs as a taxi driver, a watchman, and a shoemaker to make enough money to support his family of four children. Despite the scarcity of money, his father funded trips to freestyle wrestling sessions. Consequently, Aziz promised he would pay his father back and never be lacking in substance when he became a professional in the sports world.
Tom Brands and the Russian Buvaisar Saitiev, wrestling professionals and participants of the 1996 Olympics, introduced Aziz to their unique training processes and inspired him to be an Olympic winner. Meanwhile, Kazbek Dedegkaev and John Smith motivated him to begin coaching. Aziz desires to coach US athletes in the next ten years because of their high stamina and potential to absorb his training methods and demonstrate their effectiveness.
In 1997, Aziz won the Cadet Uzbekistan Champion at 63 kilograms. For the following two years, he enrolled at the Sports College of the Olympic Reserve in Samarkand, during which he demonstrated his athleticism and won awards at a few wrestling tournaments.
From 1999 to 2004, Ulakhunov attended the Uzbek State University of Physical Education. He was crowned the champion of several international tournaments at 68 kilograms and earned a bronze medal for the Central Asian Games at 74 kilograms in Tajikistan.
In 2000, F. A. Kerimov was his role model for training methods and techniques involving tempo, vigor, and power. The proper balance of these three elements allows for functional loading and recovery times. After incorporating Kerimov’s coaching methods into his own, Aziz became a coach for the Children and Youth Sports School from that year until 2008. During that time, the Uzbekistan Senior Championships honored him as the best junior coach with the best technique, and he earned the title of master of sports of Uzbekistan.
Since he began coaching, Aziz has earned awards for his diligent coaching methods and effective techniques. Many of his trainees, such as Gulomjon Abdullayev, Umidzhno Jalolov, and Chuliboev Zhafar, have earned podium medals at championships and partaken in the Olympic games.
