At 19 years old, the Montalbanese of Chechen origin is the great hope of French freestyle wrestling. A multi-medalist among young people, he considers himself ready to qualify for the Olympic Games this weekend in Belgrade where the world championships open.
The first thing you notice about Rakhim Magamadov is his back. Freed from his wrestler’s jersey, he imposes his round and imposing muscles, overflowing, massive, a reflection of his power. This Tuesday in the Insep wrestling room, the carpet shines with drops of sweat falling from the bodies in combat. The 19-year-old wrestler rehearses his scales following the rhythm of a match, six minutes. On the side, Luca Lampis, one of the coaches of the French freestyle wrestling team, does not let go of his foal: “Contract your neck”, he tells him after a technique.
Magamadov raises a lot of hopes in French freestyle wrestling, not the most decorated of the three styles. Greco-Roman with the Guénot brothers or Mélonin Noumonvi, women’s wrestling thanks to Koumba Larroque or Olympic medalists Lise Legrand and Anna Gomis, are in front. Freestyle wrestling awaits the return from suspension of Zelimkhan Khadjiev (doping), its former leader. From Larroque, Magamadov borrowed his gluttony to devour everything in the youth age categories. Magamadov copied Koumba Larroque’s youth record. Two junior world titles, continental gold under 23: “My goal was to do better than Koumba among young people, I don’t know if I achieved it. Each year I confirmed that I “I was the best in my age category, now I have to prove myself among the seniors”, concedes the under 86 kilos.
Larroque, also a very young champion, had missed qualification for the 2016 Olympics in a fight when she was only a cadet. She is full of compliments in her mouth about her younger brother: “Rakhim has a lot of wrestling qualities, physical qualities, it’s a bit of the current phenomenon. It’s great. It highlights freestyle wrestling. He is super young, he’s a lot ahead of the seniors. He reminds me a little of myself. It’s super interesting and it promises for the future, I’m sure.”
“I’m coming very strong”
Born in Chechnya in 2003, Magamadov arrived in France in the luggage of his parents who fled the war in 2007. Passing through Poland then settling in Montauban with cousins. He started wrestling in the Tarn-et-Garonne club. As if it were obvious. “Our national sport is wrestling in Chechnya. When you are Chechen you are obliged to do a combat sport, judo wrestling, MMA. It’s combat sport or nothing,” he says when he unfolds his story after training.
At Insep, he is also looked after by other children from Chechnya, Akhmed Aibuev or Ilman Mukhtarov who give him advice or hook him up by calling him a cheapskate. His style ? Always on the man, tiring and offensive as desired. After a year of discovering the senior world in 2022, he seems to have turned a corner. This season, he came close to taking the scalp of the Greek Kurugliev, 2023 European champion, to his prize list: “The seniors know that I am young so they underestimate me. They must not underestimate me. estimate. I have already beaten world and European medalists. I am coming very strong,” he trumpets.
At the Worlds which begin this Saturday for him in Belgrade (Serbia), he will seek one of the first five places, synonymous with qualification for the Olympic Games. Even a medal, he doesn’t hide it. Problem, he will struggle with a damaged left knee due to an affected external ligament. Not enough to cool his fiery temperament: “I’m excited, I really want to fight, I want to tear everything away. On the one hand, I’m stressed a little because I don’t want to disappoint here in Montauban and in Chechnya everyone who looks at me. I have no room for error.”
Magamadov knows he is expected. Didier Païs, his other trainer at Insep, uses carrots and sticks sparingly to push or slow down the less than 86 kilos. In Belgrade, Magamadov will have to fight his nature. He admits, during breaks, he can lose his concentration and look into the stands. In the big world, the big beasts will not let these youthful mistakes pass them by. Raising his head, he sees the portraits of the great names of French wrestling. The child from Grozny smiles: “I want to make the history of French wrestling.”
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