Yatskevich, Alexander Vladimirovich

Aleksander Yatskevich was born in Dobele in 1958, in 1970 he moved to Riga , where he began to practice sambo, and later judo. In 1974, he won the USSR championship among young men. ^[1] At the international level, success was achieved for the first time among young men under 17 years of age (cadets), taking second place at the international tournament in Katowice in 1974, and the following year became the European champion among cadets. In 1976 he repeated his success, becoming the champion of Europe already among juniors (under 20) and winning the world championship among juniors. In 1977, he remained third at the European Championship among juniors. The following year he made his adult debut at the international tournament in Paris , winning it, at the international tournament in Tbilisi he took third place, and won silver in the USSR championship. He was selected to participate in the European Championship in Helsinki and became the European champion there, and in the team championship, held in the same year in Paris, he became the second. In the same year he won the international sports contest of the Dynamo Society in Bucharest . In 1979, the wrestler became the European champion in the team and won the Hungaria Cup tournament. In 1980, having won the European Championship, the USSR Championship and the prestigious international tournament in Tbilisi, he became the main candidate for participation in the Olympic Games.

Speaking at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow , he fought in the category of up to 86 kilograms. In his category 25 athletes fought, divided into two groups. Competitions were conducted according to the version of the system with elimination after two defeats . Alexander Yatskevich, along with Detlef Ulsh ( GDR ) was considered as one of the favorites of the tournament. In 1/16 of the tournament, the Soviet wrestler won against Dambadzhan Cent-Ayush ( Mongolia ), in 1/8 he defeated Krishtof Kurzhina ( Poland ), in 1/4 against Slavko Obadov ( Yugoslavia ), but unexpectedly lost to the future Olympic champion in the semifinals Jurg Rotliberger , who managed to make a throw at Coca and keep a minimum advantage until the end of the fight. In a meeting for third place, the Soviet wrestler defeated Bertil Ström ( Sweden ) without any problems. ^[2]

After the Olympic Games, the wrestler becomes the European champion in the individual championship (1982, Rostock ), the silver medalist in the team (1982, Milan ), twice becomes the champion of the USSR (1982, 1984), wins the international tournament in Tbilisi and becomes the second there (1984, 1982) , second at the international tournament in Potsdam , second at the Czech Cup (1984, Prague ) and third at the Jigoro Kano Cup in Tokyo (1982). ^[3] .

He graduated from the Riga Civil Aviation Institute .

Trainer Anatoly Khmelev influenced the formation of an athlete ^[4] .

In 1984 he graduated from sports and began his coaching career, became the head of the military sports team in Riga . ^[five]

Since 1994, he lived and coached in Belgium for 15 years, including the national team of the country since 2000. In 2009 he returned to Latvia. He holds master classes around the world, including giving master classes at Tokai University and Katsura University in Japan . As a coach, he raised one Olympic champion, eight Olympic medalists, 15 champions and world championship medalists, more than 50 - Europe. ^[1] . In 2004, Alexander Yatskevich was recognized as the best coach in Europe. ^[6]

Vice-President of the Latvian Judo Federation, expert of the International Judo Federation, head of the Lido Sports Club.

• Alexander Yatskevich - Olympic statistics on the website Sports-Reference.com (English)
• Alexander Yatskevich - profile on judoinside.com
• Statistics of the USSR judo championships