Chechens in London: by quantity or by quality

Timur Utsoyev, Grozny. Exclusively to VK

The performance of the Chechen athletes at the Olympic Games in London was seen as a big achievement by the small republic. Chechnya was represented by three athletes in the national Olympic team: freestyle wrestler Dzhamal Otarsultanov, boxer Artur Beterbiyev and power-lifter Apti Aukhadov. One of them is the Olympic champion, the other is runner-up.

The fact that fewer athletes from Chechnya participated in the Games this time is explained by the preparation of the republic's Olympic athletes – they are encouraged to achieve high results. Freestyle wrestler Dzhamal Otarsultanov was sent to the Olympics for achievements and won a gold medal. The success was especially treasured by Otarsultanov – he missed the Olympics in Beijing. Unlike the Greco-Roman wrestling contest, the freestyle wrestling contest was almost a failure for Russia. The strongest team of the world got only four medals, and only one gold, while the best result for Russia is traditionally three gold medals. According to sporting experts, technically the Russian wrestlers were the strongest, but the physical and functional conditions of the athletes were weaker.

The performance of the 19-year old power-lifter Apti Aukhadov from Chechnya was a big intrigue at the Olympic Games. Aukhadov performed perfectly, but his own weight was 130 grammes heavier than the weight of the winner, Adrian Zhilinski. “Ahead of the performance I weighed and I was lighter than was necessary by half a kilo. The coach told me to drink a bottle of water. So one drink determined the fate of the gold medal,” the athlete explained.

The Chechen boxer Artur Beterbiyev failed to secure victory in the quarter-final. He was the favourite, but Alexander Usik, the Ukrainian boxer, defeated him just like he did a year ago at the world championship in Baku. Grozny is sure that Beterboyev won’t leave sport and will take revenge.