Sadulaev had won gold in the freestyle 86kg at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 but moved up a weight division in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

He did not drop a point en route to the final, breezing past Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan in a 5-0 victory by points and Georgia’s Elizbar Odikadze in a 10-0 victory by technical superiority.

He had too much for Cuba’s Reineris Salas Perez in a 4-0 victory by points, before a dominant performance in the final against the United States’ Kyle Frederick Snyder delivered a 6-3 victory by points and another gold medal.

The 25-year-old is nicknamed ‘The Russian Tank’, and he has dominated his wrestling events since making his senior debut at the age of 15.

Sadulaev won gold at the United World Wrestling (UWW) World Championships in the freestyle 86kg category at Tashkent 2014 and Los Angeles 2015.

He suffered a rare defeat to Snyder in the final of the 97kg event at Paris 2017 to earn silver, but avenged his defeat the following year in Budapest and then retained his world title at Nur-Sultan in 2019.

At the European Championships, Sadulaev won three consecutive gold medals - in the freestyle 92kg at Kaspiysk in 2018 and freestyle 97kg at Bucharest 2019 and Rome 2020.

Sadulaev was awarded the Order of Friendship in the Russian Federation for his gold at Rio 2016, and he also holds the title of Honoured Master of Sport in the Russian Federation.

The Olympic champion began training in his home town of Tsurib at the age of 10.

He is the fourth Russian wrestler to win gold at Tokyo 2020, following on from Musa Evloev in the men’s Greco-Roman 97kg, and freestylers Zavur Uguev in the 57kg and Zaurbek Sidakov in the 74kg.