rustam orujov

The brilliant sportsman Rustam Orujov is a judoka, who competes in the -73kg weight class. He is a European Champion, a World Masters Champion, a 3x IJF Grand Slam Champion, a 5x IJF Grand Prix Champion, and a Islamic Solidarity Games Champion. He is also an Olympic Silver-medalist, a 2x World Championships Silver-medalist, and a European Games Silver-medalist.

Born and raised in the Irkutsk Region of the former Soviet Union, Orujov started judo when he was seven-years-old. He moved to Baku in Azerbaijan at the age of 16, and competed in various youth competitions. He started fighting in the -66kg weight category, then moved up to the -73kg weight class. By 2012, when he was 21, he won his first IJF medal taking Gold at the Grand Prix in Baku. Since then he has had an incredible career on the mat, taking a further four Golds at the IJF Grand Prix, as well as four Silvers and three Bronzes, while at the IJF Grand Slams between 2013 and 2022 he has taken three Golds, three Silvers and an impressive ten Bronzes. In 2017 he took a Team Gold and an individual Bronze at the Islamic Solidarity Games, while at the World Masters between 2015 and 2019 he has taken Gold and three Bronzes. In the European Championships between 2016 and 2022 he has taken Gold and four Bronzes, as well as a Silver at the 2019 European Games.

Orujov’s proudest moments competing at judoka have come at the Olympic Games representing Azerbaijan. In Rio 2016 he won a Silver medal and was later decorated by the President of “For Service to the Fatherland III degree.” Then at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics he was given the honour of being his adopted country’s flag bearer.

Orujov regularly connects with his hundreds of thousands of followers and fans through Instagram, posting pictures and comments about his life both on and off the mat.