Fighting in the North Caucasus is considered one of the most popular sports, Dagestan and Chechen guys constantly occupy the highest places in major tournaments. Jamal Otarsultanov recorded his name in the history of world sports, having won the 2012 Olympic Games in London. And the most difficult for him was not the main tournament, but the national selection, which took place in an environment of fierce competition and a number of backstage intrigues.
From Solnechny to Moscow
Otarsultanov Jamal Sultanovich was born in the village of Solnechny, Khasavyurt district, Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1987. Being a Chechen by nationality, the athlete later began to represent the Chechen Republic at Russian tournaments.
Like most boys in his small homeland, Jamal was selflessly keen on wrestling, devoting the lion's share of his time to sports, and not to studying. The only question was only about the choice between Greco-Roman and freestyle, which he decided in favor of a more dynamic freestyle.
The idols of the boy’s childhood were the famous Chechen fighters Buvaysar and Adam Saitiev, who were role models for him.
After graduating from school, Jamal Otarsultanov moved to Moscow, where he began to continue training in the capital CSKA. While training in the main city of the country, he also began to represent the Moscow region at national competitions.
First victories
From an early age, the young ambitious Caucasian 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 emphasizes in all his interviews, in the weight category up to 55 kg a tough competition has always unfolded without obvious outsiders and favorites. In these conditions, it was insanely difficult to overcome the sieve of national selection and break through to the Olympics.
Nevertheless, he gradually rises up in the ranking of the country's strongest lightweights and in 2007 he stepped into the second step of the podium in the country. A year later, Jamal Otarsultanov had already become the champion of Russia, but another athlete was chosen to travel to the World Cup and the Olympics.
In the future, he continues to try to overcome the national framework and enter the international level, however, since 2009, Viktor Lebedev, a wrestler from Yakutia, defeated the Chechen in all tournaments, became the undisputed leader of the national team.
Scandalous selection
The rules of the Olympic qualification are quite strict and provide for the participation in the main tournament only one representative from each country. When selecting the London Olympics, the Russian team decided to apply the sport principle, that is, the winner of the national championship received the coveted ticket.
The favorite in weight up to 55 kg was the Yakut wrestler Viktor Lebedev, who had become the champion of the country three times before. However, Jamal Otarsultanov was able to get together at a crucial moment and gave out the best season of his life. In a stubborn and difficult duel, he defeated a principled opponent and achieved the right to travel to the Olympics.
However, this was not enough to start a calm and methodical preparation for the main four-year tournament. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Jamal received a knee injury shortly before the start of the Olympic tournament. Sports officials from Yakutia literally besieged the base of the freestyle wrestling team with demands to replace the Chechen with their athlete. Video clips of Otarsultanov’s trainings began to appear, with the help of which they tried to prove the wrestler’s cool attitude to training. However, largely thanks to the support of the head of the Chechen Republic, Jamal managed to fend off all attacks and retained his place in the national team.
Main victory
Behind-the-scenes intrigues and undercover wrestling only added sports anger to a native of Dagestan. It was his task to prove the justice of the choice in his favor and to silence the crowd of ill-wishers. The Olympics became the main tournament of his career.
At the stage of the 1/8 finals, he got a not too well-known opponent from Namibia, whom Jamal Otarsultanov defeated for a clear advantage. However, at the next stage of the tournament, a very dangerous rival opposed the Chechen. Korean Jan Ken Il once became the world champion and was one of the favorites of the tournament of wrestlers.
Otarsultanov himself called this fight the hardest in London, and he became decisive for him. After defeating the Korean, Jamal felt confident in the final success and was unstoppable.
He overcame the semi-final barrier in the person of Kazakh Niyazbekov without much tension and entered the main duel with the Georgian athlete Khinchegashvili.
The final turned out to be stubborn, a rival of the Russian during the struggle exacerbated a knee injury, it came to video views of controversial issues.
However, the Chechen wrestler could not be stopped, and he brought the matter to victory, becoming the third Chechen Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling history.
Last years
After such a fiery season, the athlete decided to take a break and spend time treating old sores. He underwent surgery and recovered for a long time after it. After gaining shape, Jamal Otarsultanov, whose photos do not disappear from the pages of the republic’s mass media, decided not to exhaust his body by constant weight loss and moved to the 61 kg weight category. After that, he participated in major competitions more than once and took medals of various denominations. The athlete did not end his career and continues to perform in Russia and in the world.