Obituary

Tragic Accident Claims Life of Russia's Zhiletezhev

By United World Wrestling Press

MOUNT ELBRUS, Russia (July 26) --- On Tuesday (July 24), Russian Wrestling Federation wrestler Ahmed ZHILETEZHEV (RWF) tragically passed away after falling off a cliff while hiking in the Buka-Bashi Mountains. 

The accident occurred in the vicinity of Mountain Elbrus, where the Russian Junior Freestyle Wrestling team is currently at a training camp (July 14-31).

On their day off, Zhiletezhev, a bronze medalist of the Russian U20 Championship 2022, and two friends Anton Suchkov and Shukhrat Rasulov, went to Buka-Bashi Mountain. Their route was not registered with the Ministry of Emergency Situations. At 20:07 on July 24, a group member was reported to have fallen into the canyon. Later, it was determined that Zhiletezhev tragically passed after falling off a cliff.

United World Wrestling expresses its deepest sympathies to the Russian Wrestling Federation and the Zhiletezhev family.

UWW Bureau Member, World Champion Pelle Svensson Passes Away

By United World Wrestling Press

Pelle SVENSSON (SWE), a former United World Wrestling bureau member and two-time world champion, passed away at the age of 77.

Svensson claimed a silver medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Greco-Roman competing in the light heavyweight category. He also won a pair of gold medals at the European Championships in 1969 and 1970 before winning world titles in 1970 and 1971.

After his wrestling career, Svensson pursued a career as a lawyer and took on several high-profile criminal cases.

Svensson served as chairman of the Swedish Wrestling Federation from 1993 to 1998 and was UWW (then FILA) bureau member from 1990 to 2007.