Zemfira Meftahatdinova will go down in history as the first Olympic gold medallist in history representing Azerbaijan.

The shooter won gold in the skeet at Sydney 2000 - the second Games Azerbaijan competed in as an independent nation.

Women's skeet took place for the first time at the Olympics in Sydney, with Meftahatdinova winning a six-shooter final with a score of 98.

She would go on to win a bronze medal in the same event at Athens 2004.

Meftahatdinova also won two world titles and three European golds for Azerbaijan.

Freestyle wrester Namig Abdullayev will always have an important part to play in Azerbaijan's sporting history.

At Atlanta 1996 he won silver in the men's 52 kilograms division - the first ever Olympic medal the country won as an independent nation as they made their debut at the Games in the American city.

Abdullayev went one better four years later at Sydney 2000, becoming Azerbaijan's first male Olympic champion by winning the 55kg title.

He defeated Sammie Henson of the United States 4-3 in the final.

Abdullayev also won four World Championship medals during his career and two European titles.

His brother Arif Abdullayev is also a world champion wrestler.

Judoka Elnur Mammadli won a place in Azerbaijan sporting hearts forever after clinching an Olympic gold medal at Beijing 2008.

He triumphed in the men's under-73 kilograms division in the Chinese capital, seeing off Wang Ki-Chun of South Korea in the final after an ippon just a few seconds in.

Mammadli entered the Olympics as the World Championships silver medallist having finished second in Rio de Janeiro a year earlier, losing out to Wang who had to compete in the Beijing final with a ribcage fracture.

At the European Championships, Mammadli won two gold medals, including his first in 2006 when he was aged just 17.

He was the only Olympic gold medallist for Azerbaijan at Beijing 2008.

Radik Isayev became the first athlete from Azerbaijan to top an Olympic podium in taekwondo after he won the men's over-80 kilograms title at Rio 2016.

He defeated Abdoul Issoufou of Niger in the final.

Isayev was also a home hero at the first European Games in 2015, which Azerbaijan hosted in Baku, where he won gold in the same division.

The Russian-born fighter has won every major title in the sport, including World Championship gold in Chelyabinsk in 2015.

He also claimed two European Championships titles in 2014 and 2018.

In 2017, he won gold at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku.

Nobody from Azerbaijan has more Olympic medals than women's wrestler Mariya Stadnik.

The grappler made the podium at four editions of the Games in a row, starting at Beijing 2008 where she won 48 kilograms bronze.

She earned silver in the same weight class at both London 2012 and Rio 2016, before moving up to 50kg where she won bronze at Tokyo 2020.

Stadnik won 48kg gold at her home European Games in Baku in 2015, and then claimed the 50kg title at the second edition of the event in Minsk in 2019.

She has won an incredible nine European Championship titles, as well as the world title twice in 2009 and 2019.

Stadnik also boasts two Islamic Solidarity Games gold medals, including 2017 in Baku.

Toghrul Asgarov won a gold medal for Azerbaijan at the London 2012 Olympic Games, in the men's 60 kilograms freestyle wrestling.

Asgarov defeated Besik Kudukhov of Russia in the final.

At Rio 2016, he became one of the few Azerbaijani athletes to win a second Olympic medal as he bagged silver in the 65kg division.

In 2015, Asgarov won home gold at the inaugural European Games in Baku and he won the European Championships title in 2012.

At the World Championships, he won silver in 2010.