Ruslan Gadzhiyevich Karaev

Ruslan Gadzhiyevich Karaev (; born February 29, 1960) was a retired Soviet freestyle wrestler.

Ruslan Karaev won USSR titles in 1985 (he defeated the 1980 European champion Gurgen Bagdasaryan), 1986, 1987 and 1990, placing second in 1982, where he grappled with the gold medalist Anatoly Beloglazov at 5-5 in the final, 1988 with wins over the 1986 World Champion Khazar Isayev, and third in 1983. He was also the Wrestling World Cup champion in 1988, 1989. In 1990, Ruslan Karaev went 3 wins-0 losses, and received the silver medal at the World Cup, picking up win against the current European champion and eventual gold medalist Ahmet Ak along the way. Ruslan Karaev won the gold medal at the Tbilisi International Tournament in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 (one American coach summed up the Tbilisi International Tournament as "probably five times as tough" as the Olympics). He placed second at the European Championships in 1983, 1986. He won the 1980 European Junior Championships (Karaev beat the reigning Senior Balkans champion Georgi Kalchev) and 1982 Dan Kolov & Nikola Petrov Tournament. Ruslan Karaev defeated such the strongest opponents as the Olimpic champion Sergei Beloglazov, 1984 Olimpic silver medalist Barry Davis, 1988 Olimpic bronze medalist Noh Kyung-Sun, 1992 Olympic champion Alejandro Puerto and so on.

Ruslan Karaev was born in Sergokala, Dagestan, he graduated from Dagestan State Agrarian University in 1983.