PARIS (AP) — Uzbekistan’s popular head boxing coach was resuscitated by two members of the British training staff on Thursday after an apparent cardiac arrest after winning his team’s first gold medal in the Olympic Games in Parisconfirmed his fighters on Saturday evening.

The Uzbek team won five gold medals – more than any other Olympic team in the last 20 years – in honor of Tulkin Kilichev, who is recovering in a Paris hospital.

“(Kilichev) is actually more than a coach or a father,” said Bakhodir Jalolov after winning his second gold medal in the super heavyweight division. “He raised us. He trained us. He instilled in us the spirit of sportsmanship. He is with me in my heart and tomorrow we will visit him in the hospital.”

Kilichev fell ill backstage after Flyweight Hasanboy Dusmatov won the first gold medal for Uzbekistan on Thursday. According to GB Boxing, team doctor Harj Singh and physiotherapist Robbie Lillis found Kilichev in critical condition. They performed CPR on the coach and Lillis also used a defibrillator, the team said.

Jalolov said Kilichev has stayed in touch with the team over the past two days during his recovery and his fighters have responded with a historic performance.

Jalolov was the last of five Paris champions from Uzbekistan to climb the podium on Saturday night, his best Olympic performance since Cuba also won five gold medals at the 2004 Athens Games. Uzbekistan has won the last five men’s gold medal matches at Roland Garros, starting with Dusmatov on Thursday – a victory that was followed by that scare moment for Kilichev.

“This is history for Uzbekistan and I am touched because it was my dream to become an Olympic champion twice,” said Jalolov. “Now I am very happy and will continue my career as a professional boxer.”

Lazizbek Mullojonov won the heavyweight title on Friday night, joining a remarkable Olympic lineage in that weight class that includes Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon and Oleksandr Usyk, among others.

“We are building a new generation of boxers,” said Mullojonov. “This is the result of all the work of the association.”

Indeed, Uzbekistan reacted sharply to the mixed fortunes of the last two Games under Kilichev’s leadership. The team won three gold medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, signaling its emergence as an international power, but five years later in Tokyo it won just one gold medal – Jalolov’s first.

With the return of Jalolov and Dusmatov and a new team of talented young boxers, Uzbekistan is back at the top.

One of the Uzbeks’ most impressive fighters didn’t even win a medal: Light heavyweight Turabek Khabibullaev looked like a star despite losing a tough 3-2 decision to two-time Olympic gold medalist Arlen Lopez of Cuba in the quarterfinals.

Jalolov is the first multiple champion in a weight class whose gold medalists include Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko, Alexander Povetkin and Anthony Joshua. Joshua was among the fighters Jalolov would like to face next as a professional.

Jalolov defeated Spaniard Ayoub Ghadfa 5-0 in the final fight of the tournament, earning his fourth consecutive clean sheet victory in Paris with an ease that is not surprising for a 30-year-old professional heavyweight with a 14-0 record against far less experienced opponents.

But Jalolov is a three-time Olympian and prefers to fight for his country rather than himself. After putting his professional career on hold to win another gold medal, he won it quite easily in Paris. It was only in the quarterfinals that he was seriously tested by Australia’s Teremoana Teremoana.

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AP Olympiad: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games