Ilya Mate
Ilya Fyodorovich Mate / Mate also Ilya ( born October 6, 1956 in Donetsk ) is a former Soviet wrestler and Olympic champion in 1980 in free style at heavyweight.
Career
Ilya Mate grew in Donetsk on in Ukraine and thus began the struggle. He started during his entire career for the sports club Kolos Donetsk quickly developed into an outstanding freestyle wrestler, who grew into a size of 1.87 m soon in the heavyweight division, which ranged up to 100 kg body weight at the time. In 1974 he became junior champion of the USSR. Soviet champion in the seniors he was 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1982, where he defeated in 1978 in the final Ivan Jariygin.
His debut on the international wrestling mat was Ilya at the Junior World Championship in Haskovo in the light heavyweight division. He finished there behind the Bulgarians Aristo Marinow second place. In the next few years he had mostly to do with it, to prevail in the Soviet Union against a whole series of tough competitors, such as Salman Hasimikow, Aslanbek Bisultanow, Ivan Yarygin Magomed Magomedov and. This, he succeeded in 1978, when he was in the heavyweight division before Bisultanow and Yarygin Soviet masters.
In 1979, he was then employed at the European Championships in Bucharest. He could fully convince and win with five victories over tough opponents louder the European title there. The German world-class wrestler Harald Büttner had it been defeated against mate. Also at the World Championships the same year in San Diego won Ilya Mate. In the final, he won it against the Americans Russell Hellickson on points.
As the clear favorite Ilya went in 1980 at the Olympic Games in Moscow at the start. Because the Americans were missing there, he had almost exclusively dealing with wrestlers from the Eastern bloc countries, but then admittedly represented the world-class wrestling. Ilya succeeded in Moscow with five wins the Olympic gold medal.
In 1981, Ilya was only used at the World Championships in Skopje. Surprisingly, he lost it in the pool - final against Greg Gibson from the U.S. and could so with a victory over the Turks Ayhan Taskin only save the bronze medal.
In 1982 Ilya revenge at the World Championships in Edmonton on Gibson, whom he defeated on points won, among other things over defending Roland Gehrke from the GDR and Vice World Champion Slawowitsch Chervenkov from Bulgaria and thus secured the second world title.
Ilya Mate lives today (2009) as a private entrepreneur in Donetsk.
International success
(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, European Championship EM =, F = free style, Hs = light heavyweight, S = Heavy weight, then up to 90 kg or 100 kg body weight)
Swell
- Div. Issues of the journals Athletics from 1975 and The wrestler from the years 1976 to 1982
- Documentation of International Wrestling Championships FILA, 1976