Training Camps

Ivorian Wrestling Federation Hosts Training Camps for Francophone Countries

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 14:37 By UWW Development

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About thirty French-speaking wrestlers gathered towards the end of 2020 in Abidjan, the capital city of Ivory Coast, at the prestigious National Sports (INJS) for a camp entitled Camp de la Francophonie and placed under the banner of friendships, for a week of knowledge sharing and skills development with regard to international standards.
le camp de la francophonie 2020

The Wrestling Federation of Ivory Coast led this project, organised under the auspices of the Union of Francophone Wrestling Federations and with the support of United World Wrestling, represented by M. Vincent Aka, Development Officer at UWW.

In addition to the training of coaches, the preparation of athletes and the training of technical officials and referees, the camp hosted competitions of olympic wrestling and beach wrestling, and the Nordic system allowed for a maximum number of bouts in each weight category. Round-table debates of the elected representatives of the attending Federations provided for discussions and exchanges about what directions to take with the Union of Francophone Wrestling Federations. 

Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry and Togo took part in the courses and the olympic wrestling competition, while the beach wrestling tournament – comparable to African wrestling - saw the further participation of Burkina, Niger and Mali. 
Les officials

The camp was led by experts from United World Wrestling, namely Vincent Aka, Development Officer, Alexis Rodrigues, Coach-Expert and Danga Christian, Instructor. Thus, as Coach-Expert Alexis Rodriguez took care of the program and the intensive training of athletes, Danga Christian instructed the referees and technical officials towards both competitions (olympic and beach wrestling), while Vincent Aka briefed the attending coaches.

Olympic training enabled Togo to make its return to the world stage while beach wrestling let Niger and Burkina follow a new path towards the olympic world. 

Media coverage was wide and the event was broadcasted to all the partners of this French-speaking event ; the camp fostered involvement, mutual assistance and sharing amongst athletes, coaches and referees.

Equipe de CIVEquipe de Togo Equipe de Conarkry

As a grand finale, each entity was able to put its assets to use during the two competitions that closed the week at the Camp de la Francophonie. 

Mr Didier Sauvaire, President of the Union of the Francophone Wrestling Federations on site on the Saturday 26 December, congratulated all the participants (athletes, coaches, referees and officials) and encouraged them to pursue their training pathway, so as to be worthy representatives of Francophonie.

Didier Sauvaire

Trailblazer Epp Mae retires as Estonia's top wrestler

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 13:16 By Vinay Siwach

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ESTONIA (January 28) -- European champion and two-time World Championships medalist Epp MAE (EST) announced her retirement earlier in January at an emotional press conference in Tallinn. She left her shoes on the mat, symbolizing retirement from wrestling.

The 32-year-old is Estonia's most successful wrestler in Women's Wrestling, winning gold at the European Championships in 2021 and silver medals in the 2017 and 2022 editions. She also has a bronze medal from 2019.

At the World Championships, Mae became the first Estonian wrestler to win a medal, enter the final, and even have two medals. She won silver in the 76kg in 2021, plus three bronze medals in 2015, 2019, and 2022.

"The day I announced my retirement was very emotional and hard because something so big in your life came to an end," Mae told UWW. "I knew that I was about to retire because I was expecting a baby. But it was difficult to stand in front of the people and say that this part of my life has ended, so announcing was harder than deciding it inside myself."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Epp Mäe (@eppmae)

Mae is a two-time Olympian for Estonia. She made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games and finished 13th. She improved to eighth at the 2020 Tokyo Games. For the 2024 Paris Olympics, Mae tried qualifying in the 76kg weight class but failed to achieve that. Her last international competition was the World Olympic Qualifier in May in Istanbul.

"To be honest, I did not expect my career to be this long, as it is," she said. "I did not have any role models in female wrestling in Estonia when I was growing up. So I had no idea whether it was possible to earn money or live from wrestling and how far it was possible to go from my country. I dedicated my life and my career to wrestling as much as I could. An athlete should know it's time to step down. It aligned for me with a wish to start a family."

Epp MAE (EST)An emotional Epp MAE (EST) announcing her retirement in a wrestling club in Tallinn on January 9. (Photo: ERR / Siim Lõvi)

Mae took up wrestling after her father, a former wrestler, pushed her into the sport. However, there were no partners to train with and Mae did not have any national competitions. She even trained in judo and sumo just to get training.

When Estonia did start a national championship in women's wrestling, Mae dominated, winning it 12 times in her career. For other sports, she is a four-time Estonian sumo champion, a four-time Estonian beach wrestling champion, and has also been an Estonian judo champion on one occasion.

"I have always laughed that the population of Estonia is 1.3 million and I am one in a million to choose to do something like this and be successful," she said. "Coming from a small nation, it is not easy to break through to the top. Most likely you don't have training partners at home. you have to travel a lot away from your country and get to train at a level that you need to succeed."

Epp MAE (EST)Epp MAE (EST), red, wrestling at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Martin Gabor)

Internationally, Mae made her debut in 2007 at the U17 European Championships, winning a bronze medal in the 70kg weight class. She began her senior career at the Yasar Dogu in 2011 and won a silver medal at 72kg at the age of 18.

In 2012, Mae clinched the U20 European Championships and remains the only Estonian wrestler to win gold at the continental event at any age group. A decade later, she reached the final of the World Championships at 76kg, marking another historic landmark in Estonian wrestling.

"As I said there was no one in front of me to lead the way, I am happy that I went through everything to get to places and results that I managed to and kind of make a path for all the girls from Estonia who will ever wish or have this doubt whether it is possible to get that far," she said. "I am happy that they have a path already in front of them. I wish that they would want to go bigger and further than I did. I will be more than excited and happy if someone did do that."

Epp MAE (EST)Epp MAE (EST) wrestling in the 2021 World Championships final at 76kg in Oslo. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Tony Rotundo)

Reflecting on her career two-decade-long career, Mae did share her disappointment of not winning a medal at the Olympics but was happy to have achieved what she has for Estonia.

"My father recently told a journalist that what I did [in wrestling] was against the odds because we did not have all the possibilities and facilities a bigger team would have," she said. "So I think I did good in my career by achieving the results that I did. Little sad that I did not win a medal at the Olympics. But I can leave wrestling knowing that I gave everything. There is never going to be any doubt that what if I could have done this or that."

Now off the mat, Mae will concentrate on her family and follow the sport from afar.

"I will keep following wrestling and the wrestling friends I have made during the years. I will keep following them," she said. "For Estonia wrestling, I wish all the girls in different age groups we have right now will be motivated just to go as far as possible and always try to achieve the best for you. I will try to help Estonian wrestling as I can and I hope they will not stop developing Estonian female wrestling."