THE FIRST ONE

The first participant to come to Yerevan was an American, Constantin Dzougoutov. He arrived at the capital of Armenia on the night of September the 12th. It is no surprise that this calm and confident heavyweight (Constantin’s mass is 120 kilos) was the first guest at our website’s editorial office.

- Welcome, Constantin! How was your flight?
- It was fine, thank you, even though the trip was tough. First I took a flight from the United States to Paris and they’ve got so many terminals in the transit zone – you might need a map to find your way! I’ve made it as you can see, I’ve found my plane and now I’m here.

- Tell me something about yourself.
- I was born in Vladikavkaz. I’ve liked wrestling ever since I was young. It’s one of the most popular sports in Ossetia. I took training with the “Spartak” society and I was quite promising, I won several international competitions and was one of the candidates for Russian Deaflympic national team but… In 1993 I had to immigrate to USA. At start I just didn’t have time for wrestling. I had to manage my life, get a job and a passport. I went back to wrestling as soon as I could. I started training myself, taking part in competitions and winning…
It took me quite a while to get back in the international sport. I wanted to participate in the Deaflympic Games 2001 in Italy really badly but I didn’t have an American passport yet. I was supposed to go in for the Deaflympics of 2005 in Australia but just before that I’d injured my leg. I hope to be more lucky from now on!

- Do you have any kind of premonition about this tournament? How high do you think you might go in the contest?
- I won’t try to guess at the future. I’m sure of myself but my rivals are strong and I haven’t had any real international competition in a long time and that makes things tough. Let’s put it this way. I’m going to fight for a medal and then we’ll see.

- What is the current situation in deaf wrestling in the USA?
- To tell the truth it’s not as good as it could have been. Firstly, the level of the national championship is mediocre. Even after many years without practice I had no trouble in taking the first prize. Secondly, the government doesn’t really support deaf sports, we have to organize and finance everything ourselves. In Russia, Ukraine and some other countries athletes have much better conditions. Anyway, I love wrestling and I’m ready to spend as much money on it as necessary. As long as I have the power and the possibility I will train myself, participate in tournaments and hopefully win.

- You sound quite optimistic, Constantin! Thank you for the interview and good luck!