#BudaWrestle2018

Secretary General Michel Dusson Headlines Wrestling’s 2018 Hall of Fame Class

Saturday, October 20, 2018 - 15:32 By Tim Foley

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BUDAPEST (October 20) – United World Wrestling Secretary General Michel DUSSON (FRA) has been inducted into the organization’s 2018 Hall of Fame Class. Dusson, along with two dozen other officials, athletes, and referees received their recognition Friday night at the Budapest Marriott on the eve of the 2018 Wrestling World Championships.

Dusson, whose career in wrestling has spanned sixty years (1958-2018), is a stalwart of the organization having served several presidents while as Secretary General and traveled the world to work on behalf of the sport.

“There are few words that can express the wrestling community’s gratitude to Michel,” said United World Wrestling president Nenad LALOVIC. “He has been a source of strength in the organization and has been a leader on our sport for more than half a century. The Hall of Fame award is in recognition of his unique contributions.”

Dusson has been a Bureau member since 1980 and Secretary General since 1982.  Prior to becoming Secretary General, he was an international referee from 1958 to 1980, officiating the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Dusson previously served as the president of the French Wrestling Federation and later as a CAS Arbitrator (1984-1992).  

“Mr. Dusson has contributed so much to the sport it’s impossible to choose one thing, but he was responsible for initiating the recognition of women wrestling by the IF, which is a very fine legacy,” said bureau member and Hall of Fame Commission chairman Stan DZIEDZIC.

The night included inductees in several categories with careers spanning back to the 1940’s and with numerous Olympic and world championships to their names.

A full ist of entries can be found below, with photos available, here.

 

LEADER

Michel DUSSON (FRA) – Secretary General, United World Wrestling (1982-); Referee, (1958-1980)
Rolle Fernandez GUSTAVO (CUB) – National Team Coach, National Federation President, Bureau Member

REFEREE

Karri TOIVOLA (FIN) – Five Olympic Games, Every world championship 1990-2004; President United World Wrestling Referee Commission ’88-’14; Golden Whistle ‘95

COACH

Bayram SIT (TUR) Freestyle wrestler and coach for Turkish national team
Gannady SAPUNOV (RUS) Greco-Roman head coach from 1979-1990

ORDER OF MERIT

The Order of Merit is a new Hall of Fame category meant to honor those whose extraordinary service advanced the sport of wrestling. The first recipient was Dr. Harold TUNNEMAN (GER) who received the award at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Bernard J FELDMAN, M.D. (USA) Longtime doctor for United World Wrestling at numerous world championships and Olympic Games.

LEGEND

Sagalov ABDULBEKOV (RUS) -- First Olympic champion from the Russian Republic of Dagestan, one of the most prolific wrestling regions in the world. 2x world champion ‘71, ‘73 and ‘69 bronze medalist

WOMEN’S WRESTLING

Ayaka SHODA (JPN) -- 4x world champion
Stanka Zlateva HRISTOVA (BUL) -- 5x world champion 2x Olympic silver medalist
Silvia VAN GUCHT (FRA) -- 3x world champion

GRECO-ROMAN

Lajos KERESTZES (HUN) – Olympic champion, Olympic silver (posthumous)
Kazimierz LIPIEN (POL) Olympic champion1972; 2x world champion ‘73-‘74, 4x silver
Vitelav MACHA (CZE) Olympic champion 1972, Olympic silver ’76 2x World champion 74,77
Sergey MARTINOV (RUS) -- Four-time world champion, Olympic silver ‘92
Gustav FREIJ (SWE) – Olympic gold ’48, silver 1052, bronze ’60; world champion ’53, silver ’50 and bronze ’55 (posthumous)

 

Kenny Monday (USA) is a 1988 Olympic gold medalist and 1992 silver medalist (Photo: Gabor Martin)

FREESTYLE

Istvan KOVACS (HUN) – World champion 79, World bronze 77, Olympic bronze 80
Prodgan GARDZHEV (BUL) – Olympic Gold ‘64, bronze ’68; World Champion ‘63 ‘66, bronze 65
Roman DIMITRIEV (RUS) – Olympic gold ’72, silver ’76; World champion ‘763, Silver ’69, bronze ’70 & ’74 (posthumous)
Kenneth MONDAY (USA) – Gold ’88, Silver ’92; World champion ’89, ‘91
Shigeo NAKATA (JPN) – Olympic champion ’68, World champion ‘67
Monsoor MEHDIZADEH (IRI) – 3x world champion ’61,’62, ’65; Bronze ‘63

#WrestleTirana

U23 Worlds: Elor chases eighth world title in Tirana

Friday, October 20, 2023 - 10:57 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 20) -- In the last 12 months, Amit ELOR (USA) has racked up five world titles. That number is likely to become six as she travels to Tirana, Albania for yet another World Championships, her third in three months.

At just 19 years of age, Elor is a two-time senior, three-time U20, a U17 and a U23 world champion. When she won the gold medal at the U23 World Championships last year, she became the first wrestler from the United States to win every World Championships. Now she will aim to repeat the golden three-peat she did last year, wrestling at 72kg, a weight class in which she is the defending champion.

Elor won the U20 Worlds in August and the senior one in September in Belgrade. So before flying to the Balkan country, Elor spent some time training in California, her home.

"I prepare the same way that I've treated the U20 Worlds and senior Worlds," Elor says. "The only difference is because I've already competed at two World Championships each month, I just am making sure to let my body rest and make sure that I'm ready.

"Sometimes when you have three big competitions in a row, your performance and how you feel physically, it starts to go down a little bit. That's something that my coaches told me as well, just to keep training, but also know that I'm ready because in some ways U20 and Senior were a huge preparation for this."

If those two tournaments are anything to go by, Elor should win the gold medal comfortably. In Amman, she did not give a point and won the final 11-0 over Bukrenaz SERT (TUR). While she did not maintain a clean slate in Belgrade, Elor never looked in any trouble of losing her title. She would go on to win her second world gold medal with an 8-2 win over Davaanasan ENKH AMAR (MGL).

In Tirana, Elor will face a few familiar opponents in Viktoryia RADZKOVA (AIN) who she defeated at the '21 U17 Worlds, silver medalist from last year's U23 competition Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL), her opponents in the '22 U20 world final Anastassiya PANASSOVICH (KAZ) and Sert who is also coming to Tirana.

Apart from them, 72kg will see the experienced Marina SUROVTSEVA (AIN), Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) and U20 European champ Iryna ZABLOTSKA (UKR) as some of the contenders.

"It doesn't blow me, just wrestling no matter who it is," Elor says about wrestling at a U23 competition after senior level. "I think that's a really good thing because you never underestimate your opponents. If you have somebody who is extremely good and has many titles under their name, that also won't scare you as much. I think that mindset really helps me. I just go into that competition telling myself to perform as best as I can."

Elor has always possessed that mindset. Her losses to boys in school would frustrate her and push her to improve. As a result, Elor has managed to make herself unbeatable. Internationally, Elor has suffered one loss -- a semifinal 3-1 loss to Naka HONOKA (JPN) at the U17 World Championships in 2019.

"I've been wrestling since a young age and I've taken other losses on top of that," she says. "Almost every single loss and motivation and your desire to keep going. That loss was very good for me."

No more losses after that. 15 bouts at different World Championships and Elor remains the wrestler who doesn't even let her opponents come close to beating her.

Her continued dominance on the mat may have made some miss the fact that Elor switched to a new coach this season. Until last season, she trained with coach Valentin KALIKA but the U20 World Championships in Amman saw 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara MCMANN in her corner. Elor seemed to have battled the change but accepted it as well.

"Going out and competing after that change in this season has been really difficult," she says. "I learn more and learn different techniques from them, different mindsets and strategies. I think it's been really good for me. I'm very excited to have her there. She's just such a great role model for me, a really, really strong, tough person."

So far, the change with McMann has worked and she will be in Tirana with both Elor and McMann hoping for the gold and ending the season on a high before the Olympic year.

Elor will have to move to an Olympic weight class, 68kg or 76kg, as 72kg is not in the Olympics. She hints that 68kg may be a better fit for her. Back in her U17 days, Elor wrestled at 69kg but moved up with age. She insists that reducing weight is not her way. But come next year, she will have to make the hard decision.

"I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm going to evaluate myself and see how I feel as I start to work toward health, slowly and healthy way to decrease my weight a little bit," she says.