Olesya Posylkina: "Nowadays sambo is not considered as a men's sport. Women's wrestling is also interesting"

This week Russian Sambo Championship finished in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. Olesya POSYLKINA from Ekaterinburg became one of the tournament winners and the champion of the country in “up to 72 kg” category

Olesya engaged in sambo at the age of seven, inspired by the example of her elder brother.

- I watched his competitions from a very young age, and when I got a little older, I asked to join the sambo club. “I want to wrestle and to be like my elder brother”, I said. So, I proceeded to training at seven years old that is the minimum age requirement of the sambo class. In fact there were no other kinds of sports in my life, almost all the time was spent on my school classes (which I graduated from with a gold medal) and on sambo club, where I had to train a lot. Well, if to consider any alternative I would probably choose swimming, I like water very much. When I was a child I liked drawing and considered attending an art school, but I had to choose, and I stayed in sambo, – recalls Olesya.

It is clear that there are far more guys than girls in sambo. But, Olesya explained that this is not a problem for her.

- When I moved to Ekaterinburg, we got a very friendly team here. Our guys always support us, help us to prepare for competitions, and come to the stands to cheer us. Thanks to sambo I got a lot of good people, and this aspect is especially important for me. I hope that we will keep in touch for a long time even after finishing our sporting career. All the boys are understanding; we can always talk to them, and the atmosphere is friendly. It especially helps when you are frustrated after lost fight – they always support you and find the proper words for us.

But things were not always this way. There were, of course, some not-so-pleasant moments.

- When I was at school, the situation differed a lot: everybody was partial to me, especially in the fifth or sixth grade. The guys used to joke among themselves, saying: “Be careful with her, or she might hit you”. But, obviously, it was very illogical. It used to be unpopular: a girl in a men's sport. But now, after some time, many people no longer regard sambo as a men's sport, because female wrestling is also very interesting, and some girls perform even better than boys, – Olesya added.

Olesya’s family has always supported her choice. Her mother and brother watch the competitions on TV and pull for her.

- Even when I had hard times and wanted to quit sambo, my mother would come up and say: “Let's calm down now, it’s going to be easier in future”. She always used to come with me to trainings and go to my competitions held in other cities. And my brother, of course, has always supported me. I think that my family is my strongest motivation, that’s why I'm still in sports and have achieved such results, – said the athlete.

Olesya wants to stay in the sport as long as possible, to represent the region and the country at international tournaments.

- So far I see myself in the sport. Maybe, later I'll consider coaching, but at this stage I'm not regarding this option. I am focused on my sporting career. This year I am graduating from the university – Russian State Pedagogical University. In the future I would like to get another higher education interesting to me, but not related to sports.