Soslan Andiev is a Soviet wrestler of Ossetian origin, who is rightly called legendary. Speaking in heavyweight, he won two gold Olympic awards, four times became the world champion and three times - Europe.
Biography: childhood and youth
Soslan Petrovich Andiev was born on April 21, 1952 in the capital of Ossetia - Vladikavkaz. His father was Ossetian, and his mother was a Kuban Cossack. In addition to Soslan, three more children grew up in the family. Literally everyone knew his father, Peter Andiev, in little Ossetia. He was engaged in weight lifting and wrestling. He was a multiple champion of the North Caucasus.
Father died when Soslan was eight years old. He managed to bring older brothers to wrestling. And Soslana was already attached to him by his brother Gennady, on whose shoulders then lay the care of the family. Subsequently, Andiev recalled how his elder brother held his hand tightly and took him to the first lesson to one of the most famous trainers of the Union, Aslanbek Dzgoev. Then Soslan was 12 years old and he weighed 85 kg.
At that time, he was little interested in the struggle. Soslan dreamed of basketball. However, the older brothers, who already had champion titles, did not want to hear about this hobby. So Andiev came to Dzgoev - one of the founders of the Ossetian school of struggle. All eminent wrestlers of the USSR passed through his hands.
Five years later, Soslan became the winner of the world championship among young men, which took place in the States. Tall, powerful and impetuous, he cleverly butchered on the carpet with his opponents. After the youth championship Soslan was coached by his elder brother and sparring partner Gennady.
Career
In 1971, the three Andiev brothers fought in the Allied Championship and occupied the entire podium in heavy weight. Prizes were distributed according to age: Gennady won, Sergey climbed to the second step of the podium, and the youngest Soslan became the third.
Along with performances on the carpet, he graduated from the Mountain Agrarian University. He received an economics degree and planned to defend his dissertation on the topic “Economics of Collective Farms of North Ossetia”. However, the plans were not destined to come true, since training took a lot of time.
In 1973, the 20-year-old Soslan became the champion of the Union. The invincible then was Alexander the Bear. Shortly before the union championship, Yuri Shakhmuradov took the helm of the national team. He was not afraid to take the newly made champion to the world championship, which was held in Tehran. Soslav took the "gold". Journalists then christened him the second Bear.
Three years remained before the first Olympics. During this time, Soslan's piggy bank was replenished:
- "Silver" World Cup in Istanbul (1974);
- The "gold" of the World Cup in Minsk (1975);
- The "gold" of the European Championship in Madrid (1974);
- The “golden” European Championship in Ludwigshafen am Rhein (1975).
In 1975, Andiev was hired by the North Ossetian Interior Ministry. He became a sports inspector and worked in the "authorities" until 1989. He rose to the rank of major of internal service.
At the Olympics in Montreal, Soslan spent six fights. He scored four clear victories and two points. In the final fight, Andiev laid on the carpet the German wrestler Roland Gerke with a score of 22: 9.
By the next Olympics, which took place in Moscow, Soslan was the captain of the national team in freestyle wrestling. And again he had no equal: five fights - five victories. He was ready to go to the third Olympics. However, Soviet athletes did not fly to Los Angeles for political reasons.
A year later, Soslan decided to end his career. He became a coach, leading the USSR freestyle wrestling team. Later, he admitted that it was difficult to get used to the role of a coach, but he did not see any other way for himself, since he could not live without a sense of struggle and carpet, which had been given for many years. Andiev made a huge contribution to the development of wrestling in the country. He made sure that the team preserved the traditions of friendship, mutual support and high demands on himself, because that was what she had been holding on for many years.
The work in the team with Soslan was successful, the domestic wrestling school constantly proved its superiority in the world. During his tenure as a trainer, Andiev prepared Vladimir Toguzov, a bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
On his account a number of titles and awards, among which:
- "Honored Trainer of the RSFSR";
- “Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation”;
- Order of Friendship of Peoples;
- Order of the Red Banner of Labor;
- Golden Order of the International Freestyle Wrestling Federation FILA.
Andiev was the Minister of Sports of North Ossetia and the deputy of the three convocations of parliament. Thanks to his efforts, the republic managed to fully preserve the network of children and youth schools of the Olympic reserve. In addition, under the leadership of Andiev, three more sports schools opened the doors in Ossetia. On the scale of small Ossetia, this is really a big contribution to the sporting future of the younger generation. In the period from 1990 to 1998, Andiev served as vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and was a member of the ROC Executive Committee.
Recently, Soslan Andiev lived and worked in Vladikavkaz. He died on November 22, 2018 in a hospital in Moscow, where he was being treated. He was buried in his native Ossetia, at the Gisel cemetery.
