The 25-year-old dominated the competition throughout, winning both his semi-final and final without conceding a point.

Sidakov claimed gold at the expense of Belarus' Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau.

Sidakov took a 1-0 lead into the interval, before taking charge after the restart, winning 7-0 in the end.

On his way to the final, Sidakov thrashed Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Kaisanov 11-0 in the semi-final, again enjoying a very strong second period in which he won 10 unanswered points.

Sidakov’s closest match was the quarter-final against Bekzod Abdurakhmonov of Uzbekistan, which he won 13-6, while his first bout of the Olympics saw him defeat Augusto Midana of Guinea-Bissau 12-2.

As with his compatriots Zavur Uguev and Musa Evloev, who have also won wrestling golds in the Japanese capital, Sidakov was making his Olympic debut.

He had, however, built up a strong reputation in the sport as the two-times and reigning freestyle 74kg world champion, triumphing at Budapest 2018 and Nur-Sultan 2019.

Sidakov also won gold at the European Games in Minsk in 2019 and regained his Russian National Freestyle Wrestling Championships title in March 2021, winning the event for the third time after having to settle for bronze in 2020.

Russia won gold at the Wrestling World Cup in 2019, with Sidakov a key part of the team.

The Olympic champion started wrestling aged seven in Beslan and has been awarded the title of Honoured Master of Sport in the Russian Federation.