Yuriy Meltsov

A graduate of Sverdlovsk Agricultural Institute, Yury Meltsov trained as a sambo wrestler at the Regional Council of "Harvest" Voluntary Sports Society under coaches Boris Rychkov and Vladislav Gusev. In 1981, he fulfilled the standard of the master of sports in sambo and judo. Who would have thought that a mechanical engineer by training would become one of the leading national sambo athletes.

In 1980, he came to work as a coach at Arti Children’s and Youth Sports School, where he was directly involved in the opening of sambo department. Since 2005, Yuriy Meltsov had been the Head of Arti Children’s and Youth Sports School that bears his name.

He possessed the rarest gift to find real geniuses in limited space and with limited opportunities. Future champions started their way to the top with Yuri Wilhelmovich and his colleague Sergei Zherebtsov in a small settlement of Arti. Among them are Vardan Arutyunyan, World Cup winner, Alexei Utkin and Vasily Pashkov, winners of the European Championship, Alexei Meshavkin, a medalist of the Asian Championship and, perhaps, the most famous native of Arti, Alexei Egorov, European champion, World Cup winner and World Championship prize winner.

Thanks to Yuri Meltsov, hundreds of boys from a small settlement were able to succeed and find their rightful place in this life. Until the last moment, he sincerely supported the interests of his home school and trainees, sparing neither time nor effort nor emotional energy for it. His passing was an irreparable loss for all.

Landmark achievements

• Merited Coach of Russia (2003)