Khadzhimurat Gatsalov: Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling

According to unofficial data, North Ossetia ranks first in the world in terms of the specific number of champions in freestyle wrestling per capita. So it or not - it is not known exactly. However, one can say with certainty: freestyle wrestling enjoys great popularity in the republic. Because of the huge competition at the domestic level, many athletes are leaving to compete for other countries. One of those who was not afraid of tough struggle and stayed in Russia is the legendary Khadzhimurat Gatsalov, five-time world champion and prize-winner of the Olympics. Some time ago, he successfully moved from the category to 96 kg in the heavyweight.

The first steps of the champion

Khadzhimurat Soltanovich Gatsalov was born in North Ossetia, in the village of Chikola. He was brought up in an Ossetian family, professing Islam. He has three older brothers. All of them are professional athletes. In childhood, our hero often tried on medals, which they brought from the competition.

The boy started to play free fight in his native village, after which he decided to develop further, having moved to the capital of the republic. In Vladikavkaz, Khadzhimurat began to train in the sports club "Alans". His coach and mentor was Vadim Tseboev. Their cooperation continues to this day.

Gatsalov since childhood dreamed of getting to the Olympics. In 2000, he already felt the strength to go on conquering the coveted summit. When did a native of North Ossetia begin to speak for the Russian national team? This happened in 2001 after the guy achieved the first prizes in domestic competitions.

Soon the first victories of the international level followed. In 2002, Khadzhimurat Gatsalov won the World Cup in the American city of Spokane.

Athenian feats

Decisive for the Ossetian athlete was the victory in the Russian championship in 2002. Thus, he secured an Olympic ticket to the Games in Athens.

Khadzhimurat Gatsalov is a fairly rare combination of physical strength, intelligence and speed in the world of sport. At his first Olympics, a young athlete, who recently acted at the junior level, was absolutely calm, calculated every movement of his rivals. He did not succumb to emotions. Especially notable was his fight in the semifinals. He was confronted by the future champion of mixed style fights under the UFC version - Daniel Cormier. The Russian freestyle wrestler did not know about it at that time. Ossetian confidently outplayed the American fighter.

In the finals, he acted against the Uzbek wrestler Ibrahimov. In a bitter struggle, our hero managed to win. He brought the Russian team a gold medal in the category up to 96 kg.

After this, in the world of free-style wrestling came the real era of Khadzhimurat Gatsalov. For several years he won the world championships, having accumulated 4 titles by 2010.

Calm and Return

Freestyle wrestling is a very traumatic sport. Over the years of active career, wrestlers are overgrown with injuries, various injuries, lose speed, sharpness. Hadzhimurat Gatsalov began to appear young rivals. There came a period when the Ossetian athlete could not win at the international level. But he did not despair. The triumphant return took place in 2013, when the Ossetian again won the world championship. He did this, stepping from his usual weight division into a heavyweight.

A year later Khadzhimurat Gatsalov again goes to the world championship. He had to fight in the category of up to 120 kg. In Tashkent, he did not remain without rewards. H. Gatsalov took a bronze medal. Despite the successful experiment, in 2016 the athlete returns to the usual weight class to 96 kg. Ossetian was going to participate in the championship of the country, which became a selection for the Olympics in Rio. Here he could not counter anything with Anzor Boltukaev, who caught courage, who eventually won a clean victory.

Personal life

Khadzhimurat Gatsalov is a large father. He brings up four sons and two daughters. Now a large family of Russian wrestler lives in Vladikavkaz.