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Kazakhstan

Republic of Kazakhstan Central Asia Astana 17,948,816 inhabitants 2,724,900 sq km 6.59 inhabitants/sq km tenge (KZT) population evolution

Famous people from Kazakhstan

Here is a list of famous people from Kazakhstan. Curious if anybody from Kazakhstan made it our most famous people in the world list? Read the aformentioned article in order to find out.

Wladimir Klitschko

Professional Boxer

Wladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian heavyweight professional boxer. Klitschko is the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring Heavyweight Champion, and is the younger brother of WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko. Klitschko is the longest reigning IBF, WBO & IBO Heavyweight Champion in history with the most title defenses for those organizations. Overall, he is the 2nd longest reigning Heavyweight Champion of all time with the 3rd most successful title defenses at 15. On the 13th October 2013, Boxrec rated Klitschko as the number 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Ring Magazine currently rates Klitschko as the number four pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Klitschko is no. 3 on the all time list for most heavyweight title fights, only behind Joe Louis & Muhammad Ali. Since 2005, Klitschko has been the dominant force in the heavyweight division, defeating a majority of the top heavyweights in the rankings. When Klitschko won the IBF title against Chris Byrd there were four separate Heavyweight Champions. Since then, he has unified the IBF, IBO, WBO & WBA belts and defeated the WBA Champion in recess. Following his win over Ruslan Chagaev, Klitschko was awarded the vacant Ring Magazine Heavyweight title.

Nursultan Nazarbayev

Politician

Nursultan Äbishuly Nazarbayev is the President of Kazakhstan. He has been the country's leader since 1989, before the nation's independence from the Soviet Union in December 1991. In April 2011, Nazarbayev was re-elected to another five-year term.

Al-Farabi

Philosopher

Al-Farabi known in the West as Alpharabius, was a renowned scientist and philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age. He was also a cosmologist, logician, and musician. Through his commentaries and treatises, Al-Farabi became well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals as "The Second Teacher", that is, the successor to Aristotle, "The First Teacher".

Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Politician

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, born Vladimir Volfovich Eidelstein on 25 April 1946, is a Russian politician and political activist. He is a colonel in the Russian Army, founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vice-Chairman of the State Duma, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Zhirinovsky is often viewed as "a showman of Russian politics, blending populist and nationalist rhetoric, anti-Western invective and a brash, confrontational style".

Gennady Golovkin

Professional Boxer

Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin is a Undefeated Kazakh boxer who competed in the Middleweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal. He is the current WBA and IBO Middleweight Champion. With an 89% knockout percentage rate, Golovkin holds the greatest KO ratio in middleweight championship history and is 1st amongst all active current and former champions, and 3rd in overall championship history. He has never been knocked down or knocked out in over 375 fights, both as a professional and amateur.

Sergey Lukyanenko

Author

Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko is a science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian, and is one of the most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writers. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, interwoven with the moral dilemma of keeping one's humanity while being strong. Recently his works have been adapted into film productions, for which he wrote the screenplays. He was also a blogger, keeping a blog at LiveJournal, and posting both personal and public information or snippets of a book in progress. His first blog was discontinued on 11 July 2008 after a conflict with readers over the issue of foreign adoptions of Russian children. He started another blog a few days later, promising firmer moderation policies.

Timur Bekmambetov

Film Director

Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov is a Kazakh director, producer and screenwriter who has worked on films and commercials. He is best known for the film Night Watch and its sequel Day Watch, and the American films Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Aslan Maskhadov

Warlord

Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen independence movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the establishment of the de facto independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Maskhadov was elected President of Chechnya in January 1997. Following the start of the Second Chechen War in August 1999, he returned to leading the guerrilla resistance against the Russian army. He was killed in Tolstoy-Yurt, a village in northern Chechnya, in March 2005.

Oleg Yankovsky

Actor

Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky was a Soviet/Russian actor who has excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he became, together with Alla Pugacheva, the last person to be named a People's Artist of the USSR.

Evgeni Nabokov

Professional Ice hockey Player

Evgeni Viktorovich "Nabby" Nabokov is a Kazakhstani-Russian professional ice hockey goaltender for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. Nabokov was selected by San Jose in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. When he started playing in North America, he went by John, rather than Evgeni, fearing that English speakers would have a hard time pronouncing his name. However, this change did not last. In his first nine seasons in the NHL, all with San Jose, Nabokov became the Sharks leader in nearly every goaltending category, including games played, wins, and shutouts.

Elena Likhovtseva

Tennis Player

Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva is a Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16. Likhovtseva's career best appearance in a Grand Slam was when she reached the semi finals of the French Open 2005 before she was defeated by Mary Pierce, 6–1 6–1. Elena is also one of the few people in either the men's or women's game to have lost a tiebreaker from 6–0 up. Together with Mahesh Bhupathi, she won the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles championship in 2002. She has also been a runner-up in a number of other contests, including the Australian Open women's doubles event in 2004, French Open Women's Doubles in 2004 and Mixed Doubles in 2003, and the 2000 and 2004 US Open Women's Doubles. In the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won the first round of the Women's Doubles with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, but was defeated in the second. She won the 2007 Australian Open Mixed Doubles championship with Daniel Nestor. After losing all four singles of the year, Likhovtseva's best performance in 2008 was the quarter-finals at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with Lisa Raymond.

Akhmad Kadyrov

Warlord

Akhmad Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov, also spelled Akhmat, was the Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War. At the outbreak of the Second Chechen War he switched sides, offering his service to the Russian government, and later became the President of the Chechen Republic from 5 October 2003, acting as head of administration since July 2000. On 9 May 2004, he was assassinated by Chechen Islamists in Grozny, using a bomb blast during a World War II memorial victory parade. His son, Ramzan Kadyrov, who led his father's militia, became one of his successors in March 2007 as the President of the Chechen Republic.

The French Angel

Wrestler

Maurice Tillet was a Russian-born French professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The French Angel. Tillet was a leading box office draw in the early 1940s and was twice recognized world heavyweight champion by the American Wrestling Association run by Paul Bowser in Boston.

Oleg Maskaev

Professional Boxer

Oleg Alexandrovich Maskaev is a Russian professional boxer and a former WBC heavyweight champion. He made only one successful defence of the WBC title before losing it to Samuel Peter. He is an ethnic Mordvin.

Ruslana Korshunova

Fashion Model

Ruslana Sergeyevna Korshunova was a Kazakhstani model of Russian descent. She established herself as a rising figure in the fashion industry by posing for magazines including Vogue and designers such as Vera Wang and Nina Ricci. Korshunova's death, which was ruled a suicide, became a longtime controversial subject of international attention.

Khoja Akhmet Yassawi

Poet

Khoja Ahmat Ysawi, was a Turkic poet and Sufi, an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of mystical orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world. Yasavi is currently the earliest known Turkic poet who composed poetry in a Turkic dialect. Ahmed Yesevi was a pioneer of popular mysticism, founded the first Turkic tariqah, the Yasaviyya, which very quickly spread over the Turkic-speaking areas.

Abai Qunanbaiuli

Philosopher

Abay Qunanbayuli was a great Kazakh poet, composer and philosopher. He was also a cultural reformer toward European and Russian cultures on the basis of enlightened Islam.

Akhmed Zakayev

Warlord

Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev is the former Deputy Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which is unrecognised by other countries. He was also the Foreign Minister of the Ichkerian government, appointed by Aslan Maskhadov shortly after his 1997 election, and again in 2006 by Abdul Halim Sadulayev. During the First Chechen war Zakayev took part in the battles for Grozny and other military operations, as well as in high-level negotiations with the Russian side. In 2002, Russia accused him, by then in exile, of having been involved in a series of crimes including involvement in acts of terrorism. In 2003, the British court rejected the extradition request due to lack of evidence and declared the accusations to be politically motivated, also saying that there was substantial risk of Zakayev being tortured if he was returned to Moscow.

Denis Ten

Figure Skater

Denis Yuryevich Ten is a Kazakhstani figure skater. He is the 2013 World silver medalist, the 2011 Asian Winter Games champion, and three-time national champion of Kazakhstan. At the 2008–2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Belarus, Ten became the first skater from Kazakhstan to win an International Skating Union competition. He competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics after earning two spots for Kazakhstan at the 2009 World Championships, the first time Kazakhstan had ever qualified more than one Olympic men's entry. He is the member of Astana Presidential Sports Club.

German Gref

Organization leader

German Oskarovich Gref is a Russian economist of German ethnicity, the founder of Center of the Strategic Development. He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia from May 2000 to September 2007. He currently is the president of Sberbank.

Nik Antropov

Professional Ice hockey Player

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Antropov is a Kazakhstani-Canadian professional ice hockey centre who currently plays for the Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League. He received Canadian citizenship in May 2007.

Ilya Ilyin

Weightlifter

Ilya Aleksandrovich Ilyin is a Kazakhstani weightlifter. Ilyin has won two Olympic championships and three world championships. He is currently the world and Olympic record holder in both the clean and jerk and the overall total in the 94 kg class. He is Kazakhstan's first two-time Olympic champion. He is the member of Astana Presidential Sports Club.

Vassiliy Jirov

Professional Boxer

Vassiliy "The Tiger" Jirov is a professional Kazakhstani boxer and former IBF cruiserweight champion, currently fighting out of Las Vegas under Thell Torrence. Jirov won the Olympic gold medal at Atlanta in 1996. Soon after, he moved to the United States, settling in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he married and began to train at the SAR Club's boxing gym.

Bar Paly

Actor

Bar Paly is an Israeli model and actress.

Anton Khudobin

Professional Ice hockey Player

Anton Valerievich Khudobin is a Russian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. He was drafted by the Minnesota Wild 206th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Karim Masimov

Politician

Karim Qajymqanuly Massimov served as Prime Minister in the Government of Kazakhstan from 10 January 2007 to 24 September 2012. He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister from 19 January 2006 to 9 January 2007 and as Minister of Economy and Budget Planning, Minister of Transport and Communications in 2001. President Nazarbayev nominated Massimov to succeed Daniyal Akhmetov as Prime Minister on 9 January 2007. The Nur Otan party endorsed Massimov's candidacy and Parliament confirmed the nomination on 10 January. On 24 September 2012, Massimov's premiership ended when President Nazarbayev moved him to the position of chief of staff of the presidential office; according to Reuters, the move was designed to readjust the power balance between various factions within the government.

Olga Rypakova

Olympic Track and field Athlete

Olga Rypakova is a Kazakhstan track and field athlete. Originally a heptathlete, she switched to focus on the long jump and began to compete in the triple jump after 2007. Her first successes came in the combined events at Asian competitions – she won the women's pentathlon at the 2005 Asian Indoor Games and took the heptathlon gold at the 2006 Asian Games the following year. She competed in both jumping events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finished fourth in the triple jump with an Asian record of 15.11 metres. Rypakova has represented Kazakhstan at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She reached the world podium for the first time at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, where she took gold with an Asian indoor record jump of 15.14 m. She won the gold medal in triple jump at the 2012 London Olympics.

Zarina Diyas

Tennis Player

Zarina Diyas is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player. Diyas has won three singles on the ITF tour in her career. On April 11, 2011, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 143. On August 12, 2013, she peaked at world number 461 in the doubles rankings.

Rashid Nurgaliyev

Politician

Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliyev is a Russian general and politician of Tatar ethnicity who served as Russia's interior minister from 2003 to 2011.

Valeria Kudryavtseva

Actor

Valeria Kudryavtseva is an actor, TV host and a dancer.

Serik Sapiyev

Professional Boxer

Serik Sapiyev is an amateur boxer from Kazakhstan who won the world title in the light welterweight division in 2005 and 2007 and Olympic Gold 2012 at welterweight. Sapiyev has signed up for the new AIBA professional league, called AIBA Pro Boxing, which will launch in autumn 2013.

Murat Nasyrov

Pop Artist

Murat Ismailovich Nasyrov was a Russian pop singer of Uyghur ethnicity. He committed suicide by jumping from a balcony. There were reports that it was the result of ingesting LSD, possibly dissolved in some alcohol he drank a few hours before his death. According to these allegations, it occurred in a VIP restaurant bar in Moscow, although the postmortem examination of his body did not reveal any traces of alcohol or drugs. Nasyrov's supposed suicide has been disputed. Recent reports in the Russian press have implied that he may have been the victim of foul play, as family members and friends insist that Nasyrov was not depressed and had never considered suicide before. Some suspect that he was given an LSD tablet in a glass of wine at a club, and after drinking it, he experienced hallucinations and leapt off his balcony.

Andrey Kashechkin

Cyclist

Andrey Kashechkin is a Kazakhstani road racing cyclist, who rides for the UCI ProTour team Astana.

Mukhtar Ablyazov

Man

Mukhtar Ablyazov is a Kazakh businessman, former banker and politician. He is currently the subject of a legal investigation in the UK High Court after he allegedly embezzled billions of dollars out of BTA Bank between 2005 and 2009; and now faces a jail threat for failing to comply with a High Court order to reveal his true assets.

Timur Kulibayev

Businessperson

Timur Asqaruly Qulybaev is a Kazakhstani public figure, and son-in-law of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Kulibayev has held several positions in important state-owned enterprises that manage Kazakhstan's natural resources, and has immense influence over the country's hydrocarbon industry. He is former Chairman of the Management Board of Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund, the member of the Board of Directors of the Gazprom company. As of March 2011, he is the third richest man in Kazakhstan and the 938th richest in the world.

Linda

Alternative rock Artist

Linda is a stage name for Svetlana Lvovna Geiman, a Russian singer. Her style incorporates trip hop, electronic and ethnic music. Since January 2012, she has been married to Greek composer Stefanos Korkolis.

Talgat Musabayev

Astronaut

Talgat Amangeldyuly Musabayev, is a Kazakh test pilot and former cosmonaut who flew on three spaceflights. His first two spaceflights were long-duration stays aboard the Russian space station Mir. His third spaceflight was a short duration visiting mission to the International Space Station, which also carried the first paying space tourist Dennis Tito. He retired as a cosmonaut in November 2003. Since 2007 he has been head of Kazakhstan's National Space Agency, KazCosmos.

Vladimir Tretchikoff

Painting Artist

Vladimir Grigoryevich Tretchikoff was one of the most commercially successful artists of all time - his painting Chinese Girl is one of the best selling art prints of the twentieth century. Tretchikoff was a self-taught artist who painted realistic figures, portraits, still life and animals, with subjects often inspired by his early life in China, Singapore and Indonesia, and later life in South Africa. His work was immensely popular with the general public, but is often seen by art critics as the epitome of kitsch. He worked in oil, watercolour, ink, charcoal and pencil but is best known for his reproduction prints which sold worldwide in huge numbers. The reproductions were so popular that it was rumoured that Tretchikoff was the world's richest artist after Picasso.

Elena Ilinykh

Woman

Elena Ruslanovna Ilinykh is a Russian ice dancer who competes with partner Nikita Katsalapov. Together, they are two-time European medalists and two-time Russian national silver medalists. On the junior level, they were the 2010 World Junior champions and 2009 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalists.

Heinrich Schmidtgal

Soccer Midfielder

Heinrich Schmidtgal is a Kazakh footballer of German descent who currently plays for Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 2. Bundesliga.

Beibut Shumenov

Professional Boxer

Beibut Shumenov, is a Kazakh professional boxer who fights in the Light Heavyweight division. He is the current WBA and IBA Light Heavyweight Champion.

Serik Akhmetov

Politician

Serik Nığmetulı Akhmetov is a Kazakh politician who has been Prime Minister of Kazakhstan since 2012. Akhmetov served for a time as Deputy Governor of Astana before being appointed to the Government of Kazakhstan as Minister of Transportation on 25 September 2006. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of the Atameken National Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers of Kazakhstan since 2005. President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Akhmetov as Prime Minister following the resignation of Karim Massimov on 24 September 2012.

Ruslan Aushev

Politician

Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev was the president of Ingushetia from March 1993 to December 2001. He was reportedly the youngest officer in the Soviet army to reach the rank of lieutenant general. He received the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union on 7 May 1982. Aushev has emerged as Ingushetia's most popular politician, having kept peace and stability during the Chechen war.

Alexander Perezhogin

Professional Ice hockey Player

Alexander Valerievich Perezhogin is a Kazakhstani-Russian professional ice hockey player currently playing for Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Ablai Khan

Man

Wali-ullah Abul-Mansur Khan better known as Ablai Khan was a Kazakh khan of the Middle jüz. Born as Wali-ullah Abul-Mansur Khan, Ablai Khan belonged to the senior branch of descendants of the 15th century founder of the Kazakh state, Janybek Khan. In the first half of the 18th century, Ablai Khan proved to be a talented organizer and commander as he headed detachments of the Kazakh militia fighting the Dzungars. He participated in the most significant battles against the Dzungars from the 1720s to the 1750s, for which he was declared a "batyr" by the people. Ablai's activity aimed to create a strong and independent Kazakh state. He headed the unified forces of the Kazakhs and furthered the centralization of state power in Kazakhstan. Until his election as the khan of the three jüzes, Ablai had to compete with Khan Abul Mambet and his descendants of Middle jüz for leadership. Initially, Russia recognized Abul-Mambet Khan as the Khan of Middle jüz, while Ablai was supported by China. Ablai's talent in playing China against Russia gradually made him the unrivaled Khan of the steppe. Unlike Abul Khair Khan of Little jüz, Ablai never submitted to Russian rule. In 1771, at the meeting of the representatives of the three jüzes, Ablai was elected as the Kazakh khan. Russian Empress requested that the title of khan should be recognized and officially approved by Russia. To that end, she sent an official letter to Petropavl, where Ablai was expected to receive the title in 1779. He never showed up at the fort, declining Russia's request to appoint him as the khan of Middle jüz. In contrast to Ablai, other khans and sultans had been competing for the lavish gifts and stipends of the Emperors of Russia in return for their submission.

Alfred Koch

Politician

Alfred Reingoldovich Kokh is a Russian writer, mathematician-economist, and businessman of ethnic German origin. He served as a deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin and was an ally of economic reformer Anatoly Chubais, a chief architect of Russia's privatization. On September 12, 1996, Kokh was appointed head of Russia's State Property Committee, acting as Russia's privatization chief. He left the position on August 13, 1997, after the privatization auctions. In June 2000, Alfred Kokh became head of Gazprom-Media, a subsidiary media holding of Gazprom, and oversaw the gas giant's controversial takeover of NTV, an independent television company owned by Vladimir Gusinsky. He was succeeded by Boris Jordan in October 2001. He also served as head of the 2003 election campaign staff for the Union of Right Forces, a pro-business, democratic party of young reformers including Yegor Gaidar, Boris Nemtsov and Irina Khakamada, the first woman to run for the Russian presidency. He wrote the 2006 Russian best-seller, A Crate of Vodka, a dialogue with journalist Igor Svinarenko about the twenty-year period that covered the last Soviet generation and the first, truly free Russian generation. The English translation will appear in spring 2009.

Vladimir Smirnov

Professional Cross-Country Skier

Vladimir Mikhaylovich Smirnov is an Kazakhstani former cross-country skier who raced from the 1982 until 1991 for the USSR and, later, for Kazakhstan. First Olympic champion from independent Kazakhstan. He is also a vice president of the International Biathlon Union. Smirnov is a former member of International Olympic Committee.

Dmitriy Karpov

Olympic Track and field Athlete

Dmitriy Vasilyevich Karpov is an athlete from Kazakhstan who competes in decathlon and heptathlon. He won the bronze medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Rakhat Aliyev

Politician

Rakhat Mukhtaruly Aliyev served as the First Vice Foreign Minister in the government of Kazakhstan until February 2007 when he was appointed to his second tour as Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Austria. Until June 2007, Aliyev was married to Dariga Nazarbayeva, the eldest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Andrey Kivilev

Professional Cyclist

Andrei Kivilev was a professional road bicycle racer from Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan. In March 2003, he fell heavily during the Paris–Nice race and subsequently died of his injuries. His death was the trigger for the UCI to implement the compulsory wearing of helmets in all endorsed races.

Toktar Aubakirov

Astronaut

Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov is a retired Kazakh Air Force officer and a former cosmonaut.

Aliona Vilani

Ballroom Dancer

Aliona Vilani is a Russian-Kazakhstani professional dancer.

Zulfiya Chinshanlo

Weightlifter

Zulfiya Chinshanlo is a Kazakhstani weightlifter. She set a world record in the clean and jerk on 29 July 2012 at the 2012 London Olympics by lifting 131 kg.

Dinmukhamed Konayev

Politician

Dinmukhamed Akhmetuly Konayev, born 12 January 1912 [O.S. 31 December 1911] in Verny, now Almaty, died 22 August 1993, was a Kazakh Soviet communist politician.

Imangali Tasmagambetov

Politician

Imangali Nurgaliuly Tasmagambetov is the current mayor of Astana, Kazakhstan. From December 2004 to April 2008 he was the mayor of Almaty. Before that, from 28 January 2002 to 11 June 2003, he was the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan. Tasmaghambetov said that he resigned after finding out about the falsification of a positive vote of confidence in his administration that was taken on 19 May 2003. His resignation resulted in the dismissal of all members of his cabinet, as required by the Constitution of Kazakhstan. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev replaced Tasmaghambetov with Pavlodar Oblast Governor Daniyal Akhmetov on 13 June 2003. Akhmetov pledged to maintain many of Tasmaghambetov's policies.

Samat Smakov

Soccer Defender

Samat Smakov is a Kazakhstani football defender who currently playing for Zenit Saint Petersburg in the Russian Premier League.

Shoqan Walikhanov

Deceased Person

Shoqan Shynghysuly Walikhanov, given name Muhammed Qanafiya was a Kazakh scholar, ethnographer, historian and participant of The Great Game. He is regarded as the father of modern Kazakh historiography and ethnography. The Kazakh Academy of Sciences is named after him. His name is written Shoqan Walikhanov in English based on the transliteration of the Russian spelling of his name, which he used himself. The Kazakh language variant of his name was written in the Arabic script, and was similar to the Russian version.

Bakhtiyar Artayev

Boxer

Bakhtiyar Karipullauly Artayev is a Kazakh boxer who won the only Gold medal for Kazakhstan in the men's welterweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was also the Winner of the Val Barker Trophy for the outstanding boxer of the 2004 Olympics Games. After the 2004 Summer Olympics he became a living legend of boxing in Kazakhstan; one of the Taraz sport centres was named after him and a book was written. In 2012 he was appointed as a president of the Astana Presidential Sports Club.

Pavel Priluchniy

Actor

Pavel Priluchniy is an actor.

Natascha Ragosina

Boxer

Natalia Yurievna Ragozina, better known as Natascha Ragosina, is an undefeated retired professional boxer who spent much of her career ranked as the top female super middleweight in the world. Though born in Kazakhstan and currently residing in Germany, she competed professionally for Russia and is of Russian descent. She is the longest reigning WBA female super middleweight champion and WBC female super middleweight champion. At the time of her retirement, she held all major female super middleweight titles and two heavyweight belts: ⁕IWBF super middleweight title ⁕WIBF super middleweight title ⁕WIBA super middleweight title ⁕Global Boxing Union Female super middleweight title ⁕WBC female super middleweight title ⁕WBA female super middleweight title ⁕WIBC super middleweight title ⁕WIBF heavyweight title ⁕WBF heavyweight title On March 15, 2008, Ragosina defeated Teresa Perozzi to win a record 7 championship belts in a single fight, breaking Giselle Salandy's previous record of 6 belts won in a single fight. However, two weeks later, Salandy - a light middleweight boxer - defeated Karolina Lukasik in a match with 8 titles on the line to regain her record for titles won in a single fight.

Baurzhan Momyshuly

Military Person

Baurzhan Momyshuly, also spelled Baurjan Momish-Uli was a Kazakh-Soviet military officer and author, posthumously awarded with the titles Hero of the Soviet Union and People's Hero of Kazakhstan.

Maxim Iglinsky

Cyclist

Maxim Iglinsky is a Kazakh road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTour team Astana, who he joined in 2007. Iglinsky turned professional in 2005 with Domina Vacanze and rode for Team Milram in 2006. Iglinsky won stage 6 of the 2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. He is the elder brother of Valentin Iglinsky. In spring 2012, he prevailed in one of the Ardennes Classic races, Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He broke away from the chasing group with Joaquim Rodríguez, subsequently dropping him and flying by race leader Vincenzo Nibali with one kilometer to go to win solo.

Assan Bazayev

Professional Road Racing Cyclist

Assan Bazayev is a professional road bicycle racer from Kazakhstan, riding for Astana on the UCI ProTour. In 2004 he won the Hellas Tour, but he did not win any stage. He also won stage 1 of the 2006 Tour of Germany in August 2006. Bazayev will retire at the end of the 2013 season, after ten years as a professional.

Daniyal Akhmetov

Politician

Daniyal Kenzhetayuly Akhmetov has served as the Minister of Defense and General of the Army of Kazakhstan since Prime Minister Karim Massimov appointed him on 10 January 2007. He served as Prime Minister from 13 June 2003 to 9 January 2007. Critics refer to him as "The Terminator", a nickname he gained as Governor of Pavlodar Province, for his actions in suppressing supporters of Ghalymzhan Zhaqiyanov, the previous Governor. On 8 January 2007 he resigned. He did not say why, but President Nursultan Nazarbayev had criticized him in 2006 for overspending and other administrative errors. President Nazarbayev accepted his resignation, and immediately appointed him Acting Prime Minister. He left office two days later when the new government took office, in which he became defense minister. He was dismissed in June 2009.

Konstantin Barulin

Man

Konstantin Alexandrovich Barulin is a Russian professional ice hockey goaltender now playing for Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League. He was born in Karaganda, U.S.S.R. but plays internationally for Russia. He was drafted 84th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft but remained in Russia and never signed a contract with the Blues.

Alexander Melentyevich Volkov

Novelist

Alexander Melentyevich Volkov was a Soviet novelist and mathematician. Volkov was born in Ust-Kamenogorsk. He wrote several historical novels, but is mostly remembered for a series of children's books based on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The first of these books, The Wizard of the Emerald City, is a loose translation of the first Oz book, with chapters added, altered, or omitted, some names changed, and several characters given personal names instead of generic ones. Baum's name is mentioned in the first of Volkov books but the Soviet Union paid no royalties to the Baum estate. First published in 1939 in the Soviet Union, the book became quite popular; and in the 1960s Volkov also wrote his own sequels to the story. He liberally borrowed from some of the originals such as using the "Powder of Life" idea from The Marvelous Land of Oz but mostly created a divergent universe. From 1963 to 1970, four more books in the series were published, with the sixth and final story published posthumously in 1982. Other authors such as Yuri Kuznetsov, Sergei Sukhinov, and Leonid Vladimirsky have recently written additional sequels in Russian, creating in effect an alternative series of Oz books.

Grigory Potanin

Deceased Person

Grigory Nikolayevich Potanin was a Russian naturalist and explorer of Inner Asia who aligned himself with the Siberian separatist movement. The 9915 Potanin asteroid bears his name.

Mikhail Gutseriyev

Businessperson

Mikhail Safarbekovich Gutseriev is a Russian entrepreneur and businessman. He is the owner of “Russneft”, OAO “Russian Coal”, ZAO “Mospromstroy” and also GCM Global Energy, a British company, with annual revenue of $1 billion. Gutseriev also owns large assets in real estate including the “National” Hotel and luxury shopping centres. According to Forbes, Gutseriev has a personal fortune of $6.7 billion.

Alexey Poltoranin

Athlete

Alexey Yurevich Poltoranin is a Kazakhstani cross-country skier who has competed at the international senior level since 2004. He has three world cup wins, one in 2010 and two in 2013. In the 2013 World Championship in Val di Fiemme he got two bronze medals. Most of his best results are in classic skiing.

David Loria

Soccer Goalkeeper

David Grigorievich Loria is a Kazakhstani football goalkeeper of Georgian descent born on 31 October 1981. He signed contract with Turkish Çaykur Rizespor in summer of 2012. In 10 June 2013 signed contract with FC Kairat Almaty. He also plays for the Kazakhstan national football team since 2000.

Vsevolod Ivanov

Novelist

Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich Ivanov was a notable Soviet writer praised for the colourful adventure tales set in the Asiatic part of Russia during the Civil War.

Grigory Grabovoy

Man

Grigory Petrovich Grabovoy is a Russian self-proclaimed faith healer and a sect leader. He attracted a large amount of media attention in 2005 when he promised to resurrect the children killed in Beslan school hostage crisis. In 2006 Grabovoy was put to trial for fraud and sentenced to serve in prison.

Dilnaz Akhmadieva

Singer

Dilnaz Akhmadieva is a Kazakhstani pop singer and actress of Uyghur origin, born and raised in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She was married to Ayaz Khan Behttani a Pakistani singer, but the couple later on divorced.

Vladimir Shatalov

Astronaut

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov is a former Soviet cosmonaut who flew three space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 4, Soyuz 8, and Soyuz 10.

Olga Shishigina

Olympic athlete

Olga Vasilyevna Shishigina is a retired Kazakhstani track and field athlete who mainly competed in the 100 metres hurdles. She won an Olympic gold medal in 2000, and many on regional and continental level. She was banned between 1996 and 1998 for failing a drug test.

Sofiya Velikaya

Olympic Fencer

Sofiya Aleksandrovna Velikaya is a Russian sabre fencer. She seeded fourth in the 2008 Beijing Games after losing to Becca Ward by one point in the bronze medal match. On October 12, 2011, she become the World Champion after beating two time Olympic champion Mariel Zagunis in the final. One year after, she participated in Summer Olympics in London, where she advanced to finals after defeating Olha Kharlan of Ukraine in the semifinals. However, she lost to South Korea's Kim Ji-Yeon in the finals to capture silver.

Bekzat Sattarkhanov

Boxer

Bekzat Sattarkhanov was a Kazakh boxer who competed in the men's featherweight division at the 2000 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal. Sattarkhanov died in a car accident in his native Kazakhstan on New Year's Eve 2000. Two others in the car survived.

Marat Tazhin

Politician

Marat Muhanbetuly Tazhin is a Kazakh politician. He served as the Foreign Minister in the Government of Kazakhstan from 2007 to 2009. He previously served as Secretary of the National Security Committee. In September 2009 he was named an advisor to President Nursultan Nazarbayev and secretary of Kazakhstan's Security Council.

Mustafa Shokay

Politician

Mustafa Shokay - was Kazakh social and political activist, publicist, thinker, scholar, statesman and public figure, ideologist of the struggle for freedom and independence of the Common Turkestan. He is the grandson of the ruler Torgai son begs Yer Shokai, maternally derived from the Kazakh khanate of Khiva.

Arkady Volozh

Organization leader

Arkady Yurievich Volozh is the principal founder of Russian search engine Yandex. He has been the company’s CEO and a director since 2000. Arkady founded Yandex in 1997; in 2000, he left his position of CEO at CompTek International to become the CEO of Yandex. Volozh is a serial entrepreneur with a background in computer science. He studied applied mathematics at Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, graduating in 1986. After working at a state pipeline research institute, he started a small business importing personal computers from Austria. He went on to co-found several IT enterprises besides Yandex, including a Russian provider of wireless networking technology InfiNet Wireless, and CompTek International, one of the largest distributors of network and telecom equipment in Russia. Volozh co-founded CompTek in 1989. He also started working on search in 1989, which led to him establishing Arkadia Company in 1990. The company was developing search software. In 1993 Arkady Volozh and Ilya Segalovich developed a search engine for “non-structured information with Russian morphology”. As of 2013, he is worth an estimated US$1.15 billion.

Aliya Yussupova

Olympic athlete

Aliya Yussupova is an individual Rhythmic Gymnast of Kazakh ethnicity, who competes for Kazakhstan, and was coached by the Russian coach, Irina Viner.

Dimitry Muravyev

Cyclist

Dimitry Muravyev is a professional road bicycle racer from Kazakhstan. He turned professional in 2002 and has ridden internationally since then, although his primary victories have been the Kazakhstan national road race and the Kazakhstan national time trial. In 2007, he joined the newly formed Kazakh team Astana on the UCI ProTour, where he managed to place 8th in the 2007 Tour of Flanders and was a member of the winning team in the 2009 Tour de France. On 22 November 2009, it was reported that Muravyev had become one of the 12 members of Astana—and the only Kazakhstani—to rejoin former Astana team director Johan Bruyneel at Team RadioShack. Muravyev later rejoined Astana for the 2012 season.

Dariga Nazarbayeva

Politician

Dariga Nursultanqyzy Nazarbayeva is a Kazakh lawmaker and daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. At one point she worked as head of the official state-run news agency, Khabar, but she no longer does. She formed the Kazakh political party Asar, Kazakh for "All together." Asar merged with the pro-Nazarbayev party Otan in July 2006. Many analysts believe President Nazarbayev is preparing his daughter to succeed him upon his retirement or death. Her relationship with her father has deteriorated recently, in part due to the criticism of his administration she sometimes expresses. She had a long marriage to Kazakh businessman and politician Rakhat Aliyev until their divorce in June 2007. Aliyev claims that the divorce was executed without his consent, and that it was forced by President Nazarbayev. Nazarbayeva has two sons with Aliyev, Nurali and Aisoultan. She also has a daughter Venera. She is also a grandmother. Nurali's wife gave birth to Laura Aliyev in 2003. Dariga served as a jury member in the second season of SuperStar KZ. She is an avid amateur opera singer. In spite of the lack of formal vocal training Dariga often performs opera arias at various concerts and events.

Sergei Khizhnichenko

Soccer Forward

Sergei Khizhnichenko is a Kazakh football player, who plays for FC Shakhter Karagandy in the Kazakhstan Premier League.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Politician

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is a kazakh politician and diplomat who has served as Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan since 2013. Previously, he was Prime Minister of Kazakhstan and Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Viktor Patsayev

Astronaut

Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and had the unfortunate distinction of being part of the second crew to die during a space flight. On board the space station Salyut 1 he operated the Orion 1 Space Observatory, he became the first man to operate a telescope outside the Earth’s atmosphere. After a normal re-entry, the capsule was opened and the crew was found dead. It was discovered that a valve had opened just prior to leaving orbit that had allowed the capsule's atmosphere to vent away into space, suffocating the crew. One of Patsayev's hands was found to be bruised, and he may have been trying to shut the valve manually at the time he lost consciousness. Patsayev's ashes were inurned in the Kremlin Wall on the Red Square in Moscow. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin and the title of Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.

Zhambyl Kukeyev

Soccer Midfielder

Zhambyl Kukeyev is a Kazakh footballer, who currently plays for the club FC Shakhter Karagandy.

Bakhyt Sarsekbayev

Boxer

Bakhyt Abdirakhmanuly Sarsekbayev is a Kazakh amateur boxer who won Olympic Gold 2008 at Welterweight. At the 2006 Asian Games he had also won the gold medal in the welterweight division.

Svetlana Kapanina

Aerobatic Pilot

Svetlana Kapanina is a Russian aerobatic pilot.

Ivan Dychko

Professional Boxer

Ivan Fyodorovich Dychko is a Kazakhstani amateur boxer best known for winning a Bronze Medal at super heavyweight at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships and at the 2012 Olympics. He is 2.02m tall.

Zakhar Bron

Classical Artist

Zakhar Bron is a Russian violinist and violin pedagogue of Jewish descent. He is considered one of the best. His students have included Vadim Repin, Gwendolyn Masin, Daniel Hope, Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Gluzman, Igor Malinovsky, Denis Goldfeld, Daishin Kashimoto, Tamaki Kawakubo, Mayuko Kamio, Mayu Kishima, Sayaka Shoji and Nikolai Madoyev. Before he was well-known, he taught privately in Novosibirsk. Since then, he has taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Conservatory of Rotterdam, the Musikhochschule Lübeck and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. In 1997, he took up a position at the Cologne Musikhochschule.

Irina Mikitenko

Olympic athlete

Irina Mikitenko, née Volynskaya, is a Kazakhstan-born German long-distance runner who competes in marathons. She won the Berlin Marathon in 2008 and is a two-time winner of the London Marathon. She has competed at the Summer Olympics on four occasions. Mikitenko was a track specialist in the early part of her career, running in distances from 3000 metres to 10,000 metres. She represented Kazakhstan at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the 5000 metres but migrated to Germany soon after. Taking up German citizenship, she ran German records in the 3000 m and 5000 m. She came close to a major 5000 m medal on several occasions: at the World Championships in Athletics she was fourth in 1999 and fifth in 2001, while at the 2000 Summer Olympics took fifth place. After a seventh place finish in the event at the 2004 Summer Olympics she took a career break to have a child. Upon her return to competition she began focusing on road running events. The change up to the marathon brought the greatest success of her career. A run of 2:19:19 hours to win the Berlin Marathon made her the fourth fastest woman ever at that point. Her win in London the year after in 2:22:11 hours was the fastest that year. With consistent marathon performances, she secured the World Marathon Majors title in both 2008 and 2009. She entered her first Olympic marathon in 2012 and came fourteenth.

Dennis Bakhtov

Professional Boxer

Denis Bakhtov is a world rated, Russian heavyweight boxer and two-time WBC International Heavyweight Champion.

Robert Dietrich

Professional Ice hockey Player

Robert Dietrich was a professional ice hockey defenceman. He was killed in the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster, in which all players and coaches on board the plane from the club perished.

Vitaliy Yeremeyev

Professional Ice hockey Player

Vitali Mikhailovich Yeremeyev is a professional Kazakhstani ice hockey goaltender who is currently playing with Barys Astana in the Kontinental Hockey League. He was drafted in the 9th round in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. He played four games for them in the 2000-2001 season before being released. After that he was a player for Dynamo Moscow since 2002 until 2010 when he signed for Barys Astana.

Omurbek Babanov

Politician

Omurbek Toktogulovich Babanov is a Kyrgyz politician who was Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from 1 December 2011 to 1 September 2012. Before his appointment as Prime Minister, he was Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of Almazbek Atambayev. He was also acting Prime Minister from 23 September 2011 until 14 November 2011, as the Prime Minister Atambayev was a candidate in the presidential election. He again became acting Prime Minister on 1 December 2011 when Atambayev took office as President. He was confirmed by Parliament on 23 December 2011. On 1 September 2012 Babanov resigned as Prime Minister.

Aleksandr Shustov

Olympic Track and field Athlete

Aleksandr Andreyevich Shustov, born 29 June 1984 is a male high jumper from Russia, best known for winning the gold medal in the men's high jump at the 2007 Summer Universiade in Bangkok, Thailand. On 29 July at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, Spain he achieved his personal best and won gold medal.

Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev

Soccer Midfielder

Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev is a Kazakh football attacking midfielder and forward. He plays for FC Tobol.

Rashid Nezhmetdinov

Chess Player

Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov was an eminent Soviet chess player, chess writer, and checkers player.