#Rome2018

Russian Women Collect Five European Golds

By Eric Olanowski

ROME, Italy (August 3) - Russia closed out women’s wrestling on the fifth day of competition at the 2018 Junior European Championships with two gold medals, bringing their overall gold medal total to five. This is an improvement from their three gold medal performance at last year’s Dortmund European Championships.  

Coming into the final day of women’s wrestling, Russia had two finalists and commanded a 26-point lead over second place Turkey who had a solo day five finalist. Russia remained in the lead throughout the day, claiming the team title 26 points ahead of Ukraine, who surpassed Turkey for the second place spot with their pair of day five champions. 

Viktoriia VAULINA (RUS) and Evgeniia ZAKHARCHENKO (RUS) each wrapped up their gold medal bouts early, squashing their opponents 10-0 on their way to the top of the podium. 

Viktoriia Vauline, the 2014 cadet world champion finally got her age-level European gold medal after closing out the past two years with second and third place finishes. 

In the 57kg finals, Vauline shutout Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE), 10-0, giving Russia their fourth women’s wrestling gold medal. 

Evgeniia Zakharchenko was the second Russian women and fifth overall to win a gold medal. Zakharchenko only needed one minute to lock up a takedown and four trap-arm gut-wrenches, grabbing the 10-0 technical superiority victory over Enrica RINALDI (ITA). 

Wrestling resumes tomorrow with freestyle’s qualification rounds beginning at 10:30 AM (local time). The semifinals start at 5:15 PM and will be followed by the medal matches at 6:00 PM. 

RESULTS

Team Scores
GOLD – Russia (186 points)
SILVER – Ukraine (160 points)

BRONZE – Turkey (136 points)
Fourth – Italy (93 points)
Fifth – Germany (77 points)

53kg
GOLD - Zeynep YETGIL (TUR) df. Tatyana VARANSOVA (AZE), 10-0 

BRONZE -  Andreea Beatrice ANA (ROU) df. Yevgeniya PAVLOVA (UKR), 12-5
BRONZE -  Ekaterina VERBINA (RUS) df. Kremena Krasimirova PETROVA (BUL),11-0 

57kg
GOLD -  Viktoriia VAULINA (RUS) df. Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE), 10-0 

BRONZE -  Alina AKOBIIA (UKR) df. Aleksandrina Nikolaeva KASHINOVA (BUL), 4-0 
BRONZE - Serena BOELKE (GER) df. Magdalena Urszula GLODEK (POL), 8-4

62kg
GOLD - Anhelina LYSAK (UKR) df. Yuliana Vasileva YANEVA (BUL), 5-1

BRONZE -  Daria BOBRULKO (RUS) df. Krystsina SAZYKINA (BLR), 2-2 
BRONZE -  Linnea Antonia SVENSSON (SWE) df. Viktoria FELHO (HUN), 8-0 

65kg
GOLD - Oksana CHUDYK (UKR) df. Eyleen SEWINA (GER), 10-0 

BRONZE - Elena ESPOSITO (ITA) df. Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL), 1-0 
BRONZE -  Asli DEMIR (TUR) df. Noémi SZABADOS (HUN), 5-3 

72kg
GOLD -  Evgeniia ZAKHARCHENKO (RUS) df. Enrica RINALDI (ITA), 10-0 

BRONZE - Maria larisa NITU (ROU) df. Kamila Czeslawa KULWICKA (POL), 3-2 
BRONZE -  Romana VOVCHAK (UKR) df. Tugba KILIC (TUR), 12-2 

#development

Bulgaria hosts OLYMP to increase media literacy

By United World Wrestling Press

BULGARIA (October 15) -- Bulgaria hosted a seminar on the OLYMP project, funded by the European Union's Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme, at Diana National Wrestling Hall on October 9. The project aims to improve the media literacy of athletes, coaches, and sports managers.

The seminar was led by Georgi BANOV, one of the doyens of Bulgarian sports journalism, who has covered 14 Olympic Games in winter and summer sports, as well as a number of world and European Championships in wrestling, weightlifting, athletics, biathlon, and more.

The seminar was organized for the athletes of the national wrestling teams. The event was hosted by Belcho GORANOV, Chairman of the Ethics and Legal Commission of the United World Wrestling (UWW) and project manager on behalf of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by bgolympic (@bgolympic)

The team emphasized that the seminar is part of a six-month cycle of informal training under the OLYMP project, which covers a total of 110 young athletes. The program includes weekly sessions in small groups focusing on media and information literacy, critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as developing the participants' confidence and ability to defend their positions with reasoned arguments.

The weekly classes will include readings and discussions on biographies, novels, sports magazines, as well as topics related to sports management and economics. Additional informal activities -- meetings with prominent athletes and film screenings -- will be held twice a month, with each event featuring moderated debates and practical challenges for “fact checking” and ethical behavior on social media.

Banov drew the athletes' attention to how to verify the information they receive through social media and other sources, how to recognize fake news, how to search for reliable information, and how to use social networks correctly, avoiding hate speech.

At the end of the media literacy program, a combined (formal and informal) assessment is planned – short tests and case studies, observation of group work, participant portfolios, and satisfaction surveys—to report on the specific results of the training and its impact on the engagement of young athletes in public life.

Read more on BOC website