Two Points Short of Gold
Silver Olympic medal winner Davyd Soldadze, who met the public at the city journalists’ hotel, was paid the following compliment: a lad who committed a manly act. Davyd was a bit embarrassed by this assessment of his victory, but when both his coach Mykola Rubezhny and Luhansk Greco-Roman Wrestling Federation President Valery Alioshkin supported the journalists’ compliment, Davyd took it in stride. He truly deserved the highest praise, for his behavior in Sydney was that of a fighter, comrade, citizen of Ukraine, and, of course, a man. The point is the 97 kg. category is usually the domain of older wrestlers, while Davyd is only 22. Hence, compared to mature athletes, he is still a boy, but already he is quite a strong rival for experienced world-class wrestlers.
The athlete has also demonstrated his civility. On the eve of the bout against a Greek wrestler, Davyd was offered $100,000 by some representatives of Greece in return for losing to the Greek. “I flatly rejected this offer,” Davyd said. “To be frank, what originally spurred my sporting ambitions was the knowledge that the Greek was far weaker than I. Then this gave way to indignation over the method of buying me. Then I was asked bluntly: how much do you want, boy? I think the Greeks would have paid any amount I named, no matter how many digits it might contain. They must have been in bad need of a victory.”
As to the performance of Davyd himself, he is dissatisfied with it. The two ill-fated points he was stripped of because of not-so-fair refereeing put up a serious obstacle on the road to the gold. What also made things worse was the absence of coach Mykola Rubezhny. He did not go to Sydney for the simple reason of not having the money. Davyd thinks if Mr. Rubezhny had been beside him, he would have done his utmost for the Ukrainian protest against unfair refereeing to be upheld. Moreover, in the crucial minutes of the competition, the coach could have been a psychologist, for the team did not have this kind of expert and Davyd admits it was psychologically difficult to endure the sinister schemes of his rivals.
Davyd Soldadze was brought up in the Luhansk sports boarding school. He was brought to Luhansk by his elder brother Heorhy who had graduated himself from the school. Heorhy and Davyd are sons of the once-well- known Torpedo Kutaisi soccer player, Tomaz Soldadze, so they have been practicing sports since early childhood, whetting their appetite for victory, developing the qualities of a fighter, and, of course, building up their physical fitness. Unfortunately, the elder brother had hard luck in Sydney.
Davyd Soldadze, a many times world and European junior champion, is graduating from Luhansk Teacher-Training University. He was recently commissioned a lieutenant. This grade stands in a funny combination with his last name: Lieutenant Soldadze. But Davyd never takes offense at this joke by journalists.
