born May 26, 1983) is an Indian wrestler who won the bronze medal in the Men's 66kg Freestyle Wrestling event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Kumar defeated Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan in the repechage round to win the bronze. This was the second medal for India at the Beijing Olympics after shooter Abhinav Bindra claimed the first ever individual Olympic gold medal for the country in the 10 m Air Rifle event.

Career
Kumar started training at the Chhatrasal Stadium's akhada at the age of 14. Trained at the akhada by Indian pehlwans Yashvir and Ramphal, and later by Arjuna awardee Satpal and then at the Railways camp by coach Gyan Singh, Sushil endured tough training conditions which included sharing a mattress with a fellow wrestler and sharing a dormitory with twenty others.
Moving out of the junior competition, Kumar won the bronze medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships in 2003 and followed that up with a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships. Kumar placed fourth in the World Championships in 2003, but this went largely unnoticed by the Indian media as he fared badly in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, in the 60 kg class placing 14th. He won gold medals at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in 2005 and 2007. He ranked seventh in the 2007 World Wrestling Championships, but managed to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Beijing Olympics
Out of the field of 21, 11 wrestlers including Kumar obtained a bye to the 1/8th round. He lost to Andriy Stadnik from Ukraine in the first round of the 66kg freestyle wrestling event, leaving his medal hopes hinging on the repechage. Kumar defeated American Doug Schwab in the first repechage round and Belarusian Albert Batyrov in the second repechage round. In the bronze medal match on 20 August, 2008 Kumar beat Spiridonov 3:1, with scores of 2-1, 0-1, 2-0 in the three rounds. Sushil Kumar disclosed that he had no masseur during the three bouts he won within a span of 70 minutes to take the bronze.

Awards and recognition

For the bronze medal at 2008 Beijing Olympics

•.Rs. 55 lakh cash award and promotion to Assistant    Commercial Manager from ticketing inspector by Railway    Ministry (his employer)
• Rs. 50 lakh cash award from the Delhi Government.
• Rs. 25 lakh cash award by the Haryana State Government.
• Rs. 25 lakh cash award by the Steel Ministry of India.
• Rs. 5 lakh cash award by RK Global Shares and Securities    Limited.
•.Rs. 5 lakh cash award by the Maharashtra State    Government.