Jamal Otarsultanov: Olympic wrestling champion

Struggle in the North Caucasus is considered one of the most popular sports, Dagestani and Chechen guys constantly occupy the highest places in the largest tournaments. Jamal Otarsultanov recorded his name in the history of world sports, having won at the London 2012 Olympic Games. And the most difficult for him was not the main tournament, but the national selection, which took place in an atmosphere of tough competition and a number of behind-the-scenes intrigues.

From Sunny to Moscow

Otarsultanov Jamal Sultanovich was born in the village of Solnechny Khasavyurt district of the Dagestan ASSR in 1987. Being a Chechen by nationality, the sportsman later began to represent the Chechen Republic at Russian tournaments.

Like most boys in their small homeland, Jamal was fond of wrestling, giving the lion's share of his time to sports, not to study. The only question was only the choice between the Greco-Roman and freestyle, which he decided in favor of a more dynamic freestyle. Boyhood heroes were the famous Chechen wrestlers Buvaysar and Adam Saitiev, who were for him an example for imitation.

After finishing school, Jamal Otarsultanov moved to Moscow, where he began to continue training in the capital's CSKA. Trained in the main city of the country, he also began to represent the Moscow region in national competitions.

First victories

A young ambitious Caucasian already from a young age began to win at major tournaments. In 2005 he won a bronze medal at the Russian Championship, and a year later he repeated his achievement.

As Jamal Otarsultanov himself points out in all his interviews, in the weight category up to 55 kg there was always a tough competitive struggle without obvious outsiders and favorites. In these conditions it was incredibly difficult to overcome the sieve of national selection and make it to the Olympics.

Nevertheless, he is gradually rising up in the rating of the strongest lightweights of the country and in 2007 stepped on the second step of the podium in the country. A year later Jamal Otarsultanov already became the champion of Russia, however for the trip to the world championship and the Olympics another athlete was chosen.

In the future, he continues to try to overcome the national framework and enter the international level, but since 2009, an undefined leader of the team in weight to 55 kg was a wrestler from Yakutia Victor Lebedev, who beat the Chechen at all tournaments.

Scandalous selection

The rules of Olympic qualification are rather strict and require participation in the main tournament of only one representative from each country. In the Russian national team during the selection for the Olympics in London, it was decided to apply the sporting principle, that is, the winner of the national championship received the treasured ticket.

The favorite in weight to 55 kg was the Yakut wrestler Viktor Lebedev, who became the champion of the country three times before. However, Jamal Otarsultanov was able to meet at the decisive moment and gave the best season in his life. In a stubborn and difficult fight he overcame a principal rival and achieved the right to travel to the Olympics.

However, this was not enough to start a calm and methodical preparation for the main tournament of the four-year period. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Jamal suffered a knee injury shortly before the start of the Olympic tournament. Sports officials from Yakutia literally besieged the base of the team in freestyle wrestling with the requirements of replacing the Chechen with their athlete. Began to appear videos of Otarsultanov's training, with the help of which they tried to prove the fighter's attitude to preparation. However, thanks largely to the support of the head of the Chechen Republic, Jamal managed to fight back from all attacks and retained a place in the team.

Main victory

Backstage intrigue and undercover struggle only added sporting anger to a native of Dagestan. It was his task to prove the fairness of the choice in his favor and to silence the crowd of ill-wishers. The Olympics became the main tournament in his career.

At the stage of the 1/8 finals, he got not too well-known rival from Namibia, whom Jamal Otarsultanov overcame for a clear advantage. However, already at the next stage of the tournament, the Chechen was confronted by a very dangerous rival. Korean Ian Ken Ile once became the world champion and was one of the favorites of the wrestling tournament.

Otarsultanov himself called this fight the heaviest in London, and he became decisive for him. After the victory over the Korean, Jamal felt confident in the final success and was irresistible.

Semifinal barrier in the face of Kazakh Niyazbekov, he overcame without much stress and went to the main fight with the Georgian athlete Khinchegashvili.

The final turned out to be stubborn, the rival of the Russian in the course of the fight aggravated the knee injury, it came to video screenings of the disputable moments. However, the Chechen wrestler could not be stopped, and he brought the case to victory by becoming the third Chechen Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling history.

Last years

After such a fiery season, the athlete decided to take a breather and spend time treating old sores. He underwent surgery and recovered after it for a long time. Having typed the form, Jamal Otarsultanov, whose photo does not disappear from the pages of the republic's media, decided not to exhaust his body with a constant weight gain and went into the weight category to 61 kg. After that, he had more than once participated in major competitions and took medals of different dignity. The sportsman did not finish his career and continues to perform in Russia and in the world.