In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) became another tool for analyzing sporting achievements.
With this in mind, İdman.Biz attempted to determine the best athletes of the outgoing year using neural networks.
The latest versions of five leading AI models compiled their own top-5 lists of Azerbaijan’s best athletes based on official results from international tournaments, World and European Championships, as well as statistical data published online.
Interestingly, with few exceptions, most AI models were largely unanimous in their choice of leaders. Special mention should be made of the Chinese neural network, which was the only one to include a female athlete in its top five.
ChatGPT by OpenAI – the world’s most popular AI model:
1. Ulvi Ganizade (72 kg) – World champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, silver medalist at the European Championships.
2. Hasrat Jafarov (67 kg) – World Championship silver medalist and European champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
3. Subhan Mammadov (48 kg) – IBA world champion in boxing.
4. Eldeniz Azizli (55 kg) – Bronze medalist at the World and European Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling.
5. Murad Ahmediev (97 kg) – Bronze medalist at the World Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Gemini by Google (the neural network took into account not only results, but also athlete rankings from the Ministry of Youth and Sports):
1. Hasrat Jafarov
2. Giorgi Meshvildishvili (125 kg) – World Championship silver medalist and European champion in freestyle wrestling.
3. Zelim Kotsoev (100 kg) – European Championship silver medalist and World Championship bronze medalist.
4. Ulvi Ganizade
5. Eldjan Gadjiev (90 kg) – World Championship bronze medalist in judo and one of the most improved athletes of the year.
Claude by Anthropic – one of the leading AI models for programming:
1. Ulvi Ganizade
2. Nihat Mammadli (60 kg) – European champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, winner of the ranking tournament in Budapest.
3. Hasrat Jafarov
4. Gurban Gurbanov (82 kg) – European champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
5. Zelim Tskayev (81 kg) – Bronze medalist at the World Championships in judo.
Grok by Elon Musk’s xAI:
1. Ulvi Ganizade
2. Nihat Mammadli
3. Osman Nurmagomedov (92 kg) – World Championship bronze medalist and European Championship silver medalist in freestyle wrestling.
4. Murad Ahmadiev
5. Islam Bazarganov (57 kg) – Silver medalist of the Islamic Solidarity Games and bronze medalist at the European Championships.
DeepSeek – the high-profile Chinese neural network:
1. Subhan Mammadov
2. Ulvi Ganizade
3. Gulyar Huseynova (46 kg) – European champion in boxing, gold medalist at the 3rd CIS Games.
4. Gardash Rahimov (46 kg) – U17 European champion in boxing, winner of the CIS Games.
5. Hasrat Jafarov
It should be added that some of the AI models mentioned above also highlighted the Azerbaijan national mini-football team in their comments, noting its victory at the home World Championship earlier this year.
Teymur Tushiyev
