Illya Fedorovych Mate (spelled Maté, rus, Илья Фёдорович Мате, p=ɪˈlʲjæ maˈtɛ, born 6 October 1956) is a retired Soviet and Ukrainian

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

. He won gold medals at the 1980 Olympics and 1979 and 1982 world championships, finishing third in 1981.Mate, Ilja (URS)
iat.uni-leipzig.de Mate was reputed for his deceitfully flabby appearance, which misled his opponents into thinking of him as of an "easy prey," as well as for his springy sudden movements and the mat generalship, avoiding flukes, and providing no "chinks in the armor" for his opponents.

Biography

Early years

Mate was born to a Greek father and Ukrainian mother. He began training in kuresh wrestling while studying in a secondary school.

Prime years

RIAN archive 497573 Wrestlers Ilya Mate and Julius Strnisko

He took up freestyle wrestling in 1970 and won the Soviet heavyweight title in 1978–80 and 1982.

Retirement and later years

After retiring from competitions he worked as a private entrepreneur in Donetsk, and remained involved with the Donetsk Wrestling Federation. Since 2003, an annual junior freestyle wrestling tournament has been held in

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

in his honor.

International competition record

, - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , International competition record (''incomplete'')Details o
Ilja Mate profile
available at the United World Wrestling Database. , - ! Res. ! Opponent ! Score ! Time ! Date ! Event ! Location , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , align=left, Július Strnisko , style="font-size:88%", 15–3 , style="font-size:88%", , style="font-size:88%", 1980-07 , rowspan=6 style="text-align:center; font-size:88%", 1980 Summer Olympics , rowspan=6 style="text-align:center; font-size:88%",

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, - , Win , align=left,

Tomasz Busse Tomasz Busse (born 4 October 1956 in Łódź) is a Polish former wrestler who competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), wer ...

, style="font-size:88%", 9–2 , style="font-size:88%", , style="font-size:88%", 1980-07 , - , Win , align=left, Slavcho Chervenkov , style="font-size:88%", 6–4 , style="font-size:88%", , style="font-size:88%", 1980-07 , - , Win , align=left, Antal Bodó , style="font-size:88%", Tech Fall , style="font-size:88%", 1:41 , style="font-size:88%", 1980-07 , - , Win , align=left,

Bárbaro Morgan Bárbaro Julio Morgan Soroa (4 December 1951 – January 2018) was a heavyweight wrestler from Cuba, who competed in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling,Details oBárbaro Morgan profileavailable at the United World Wrestling Database. winnin ...

, style="font-size:88%", Passivity , style="font-size:88%", 7:02 , style="font-size:88%", 1980-07 , - , Win , align=left, Santiago Morales , style="font-size:88%", Tech Fall , style="font-size:88%", 3:42 , style="font-size:88%", 1980-07

References

External links

* 1956 births Living people Soviet male sport wrestlers Soviet people of Greek descent Ukrainian people of Greek descent Olympic wrestlers for the Soviet Union Wrestlers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Ukrainian male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Summer World University Games medalists in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Donetsk Oblast World Wrestling Champions European Wrestling Championships medalists European Wrestling Champions 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen {{Ukraine-wrestling-bio-stub