In the struggle, they found the happiness of their

At the Youth Championship of Europe, only wrestlers from the Chechen Republic spoke for the French team. How did it happen, and why are they dissatisfied with this in Russia?

On March 19, in Bucharest, the European Youth Championship in the three Olympic types of wrestling ended: Greco-Roman, free and female. For obvious reasons, the Russian team did not perform in Bucharest, but the French national team was caused by an increased interest in the event this year, for which six ethnic Chechens act. There are no more participants in the team, this is the full composition of the national team. A photograph of the French youth team in freestyle wrestling became “viral” and caused stormy discussions on the network.

For example, the President of the Russian Wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili very peculiarly explained what happened. “These people took place there, none of them ever played for the Russian team. After all, the French go to gay parades, and the Chechens will be engaged in men's business for them, ”he said in the commentary“ Match TV ”.

Hearing this from the head of the FSBR, to put it mildly, is a little strange. Perhaps Mikhail Mamiashvili is simply offended by the International Olympic Committee for the removal of the Russian national team from participating in competitions after the start of a full -scale war in Ukraine. Or he simply decided to lower the merits of the Chechens in sports, presenting them with a symbol of real men solely against the backdrop of imaginary “French gays” and nothing else.

But there is a share of truth in his words: none of the six participants in the French team, indeed, never played for Russia and did not change sports citizenship. All six Chechens were either born in France or moved here at a young age. Under the French flag in Bucharest, Adam Bibulators (in the category of up to 61 kg), Hamzat Arsamerzuev (65 kg), Muhammad-Amin Sangariev (70 kg), Magomed Deliev (74 kg), Rakhim Magomades (86 kg) and Adlan Vishanov (92 kg) performed under Bucharest.

The most titled of all participants is Hamzat Arsamerzuev. He already has silver from a similar tournament last year. He was the third at the youth world championship and the seventh - in the adult. The 20-year-old Rakhim Magomadov is the owner of the European Champion title among juniors, and Adlan Viskhanov at the same tournament was the third.

But how did it happen that all participants in the French national team are exclusively Chechens?

About 30 thousand Chechens live in France. Almost all of them emigrated during the first and second Chechen wars and even after them. For example, the family of Adlan Viskhanov left Chechnya on December 31, 2008. In an interview with Nice-Matin, the cause of departure, Viskhanov called his mother’s disease and a “tense situation in Russia”. And Rakhim Magomadov told the French publication Le Depeche that he did not remember his life in the Caucasus. He was born in Gudermes, but when he was only four years old, the family was forced to leave the Chechen Republic due to the so-called “counter-terrorist operation” and move to France.

In exile, a generation of young people who are perfectly integrated into European life and find themselves in a variety of professions were born and grew. However, sport remains the main passion of Chechen youth.

The fight in France has good traditions and a good story. But the French themselves from all martial arts prefer judo. The Judo Federation in France has more than half a million registered members and almost 6,000 clubs. This is more than in Japan itself. At the same time, freestyle wrestling is very popular among Chechens not only in their homeland, but also in emigration. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the World Cup, which was held in Paris in 2017, the majority of participating athletes were immigrants from the Chechen Republic, who had come to competitions from all over France.

For the increasing number of Chechens among the fighters of the French national team, sports media and experts began to pay attention several years ago.

Already in 2019, journalists wrote that up to half of the composition of the French national team is equipped with natives of the Chechen Republic.

Mayrbek Vachagaev - a Chechen historian, writer and journalist - was the first to publish information about the Chechen team of France in Russian.

- I saw this information on the French site and simply posted it in Russian. This is an amateur sport, and for me such news was just another reminder that the guys are well done, they are doing business, ”Vachagaev said“ Novy-Europe ”. - And after a couple of days I began to notice how very evil and negative comments began to appear under the news. Then the information began to disperse on social networks and the media, including the world. It is clear that the surnames and names of those who wrote comments do not tell us anything. But this is an indicator of attitude towards Chechens and to the Chechen people in Russia.

Vachagaev emphasizes that the mentioned Chechen athletes-bombs "are engaged in this sports unprofessional: that is, they study parallel, they have some other hobbies, work, and then they go to the gym." And all the more offensive, probably, Russian "patriots."

- Many Russians are angry that the Chechen diaspora in Europe gives rise to a completely different image, unlike the that was artificially created in Russia for decades - centuries, if you want. A whole generation has grown in exile: we have famous doctors in Belgium, teachers at the Universities of Great Britain, lawyers at the largest banks in Europe, athletes, actors, artists, sculptors - and this does not fit into stereotypical Russian bunning frames. Because in Russia, if they talk about us, it is always a binding to violence, to aggression, to war, with the subtext of “They are the maximum that they are capable of,” says Vachaagaev. -Have you ever read positive stories about us? Chechen athletes speaking under the Russian flag become Russians or Chechens, depending on the result on performances. We are observing this every year: if he lost, a chain, and if he won, a Russian.

European countries, where the Chechens came after all the tragic events, made it possible for our youth to be realized, and we see these results today. And to come to a new country for you, after the most difficult wars and injuries, to master the language, a new profession and find yourself is not easy.

The final results of the European Combat Championship in Bucharest are as follows: Hamzat Arsamerzuev and Rakhim Magomadov became European champions, Adlan Vishanov became a bronze medalist. Thus, the Chechens earned three medals for the French national team.