MICHAEL MAMIASHVILI: “WHEN WE ARE UNITED BY ONE GOAL, WE ARE INVINCIBLE”
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
March 11 2014
11 March 2014 – 10:08am
By Vestnik Kavkaza
In late February in Rome, Michael Mamiashvili was elected vice
president of FILA. He is the president of the Russian Wrestling
Federation. Mamiashvili spoke to Vestnik Kavkaza about it and wrestling
in the Caucasus.
– What do you think about wrestling in the Caucasus?
– As for freestyle and Greco -Roman wrestling, the Caucasus has
always been famous for its outstanding wrestlers, coaches and
schools. This school and Makhachkala and Khasavyurt, Dagestan,
Kabardino-Balkaria, Ossetia. If I start naming all the people from
these regions and talking about this sport in those republics, it
will take a lot of time.
It is developing very dynamically and the competition becomes stronger
not only in the North Caucasus. It happens from Kaliningrad to the
Sakhalin. For the first time in many years we held the national
championship in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. This is a good opportunity to
advertise our sport, to attract young people, to increase competition.
As for the Caucasus, I hope they will continue the great traditions
of Ali Aliyev, Degi Bageyev, Soslan Andiyev, Murat Kardanov and many
other champions.
– How does wrestling develop in the South Caucasus?
– For instance, the founder of the wrestling traditions in Azerbaijan
was an Armenian, Kasparov, who brought up a line of outstanding
wrestlers. Ossetians helped Georgians and Georgians helped Ossetians,
great champions, great coaches. So our history is so entangled. We
are different in character and mentality, but once we are united by
one goal, we are invincible.
***
Speaking about being elected the vice president of FILA, Mamiashvili
said: “This is not my personal achievement, but the achievement of all
members of the Russian sports wrestling. The enormous contribution
that Russia has made to the promotion and preservation of wrestling
as an Olympic sport, the ability to promote and develop our sport is a
result of the work of a great number of wrestling fans, professionals
who work in our organization, in the wrestling organization. On
the other hand, it is certainly a huge responsibility primarily of
the Russian Federation and also my responsibility. There are acute
issues today that require immediate solutions, and these are complex
solutions, there are different positions and opinions. Some think that
the direction we have chosen may not be progressive enough, however,
we have managed to prove that the majority of sportsmen from countries
that represent our sport agree with us and therefore trust us. This
gives us an additional responsibility.”