Adji, Rustam Ivanovich

Born in Mariupol, which at that time was called Zhdanov. Father - Russian, Ivan Ilyich Tintun, mother - Gypsy, Zemfira Asanovna Aji. Since the parents lived in a civil marriage, Rustam was recorded in the name of the mother. He considers himself a gypsy. In addition to Rustam, the couple had five more children. All eight family members lived in a small two-room apartment with water and a toilet on the street ^[1] . The childhood was poor, the father was a simple worker for the improvement of the park to them. Petrovsky , the mother, like many other representatives of her nationality, was guessing or trading.

He began to fight since 1982. First coach - Nikolai Pustovalov, subsequently trained by Gennady Uzun . The latter helped Rustam move into a dormitory, because it was difficult for the guy to fully engage in sports and live in a close noisy and stuffy apartment. Subsequently, the material situation of the athlete improved a little, who began to receive a balanced diet at the training camp, which took place seven to eight times a year. In 1989, Aji became the champion of the Soviet Union among young men, and in 1992 - among young people, he began to receive a relatively decent salary.

In 1992 he became the vice-champion of Europe among young people. He played for the wrestling clubs "Azovmash" and "Helikon" (both Mariupol). The champion (1993–1994, 1998) and the winner of the Cup (1998–2000) of Ukraine ^[2] . Immediately after his victory at the 1995 World Championships, world champion, Olympic champion, President of the Russian Wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili approached Rustam Aji and offered an apartment in Moscow and a good salary only for Rustam to move to Russia . Aji refused, because he did not want to show ingratitude towards the coaches and the club, who did so much for him. Instead, the president of the club "Azovmash" Alexander Savchuk handed him the keys to the car and a three-room apartment. Currently, the Aji family has expanded it by purchasing the next two-room apartment.

At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Aji did not leave the qualifying group. He won the first match with the Belarusian Kopytov in 40 seconds, but in another match he lost to Pole Ryszard Volny in five seconds, having lost the advantage by two points, although he won the world championship with the score 7: 2 ^[3] .

In 2004, after several defeats from the young Vladimir Shatskikh , who later became the second Ukrainian champion in Greco-Roman wrestling after Aji, Rustam finished his performance. Although at that time he was only 31 years old - a small age for a wrestler, Aji decided not to take part in competitions, because he considered it unacceptable for himself not to be first.

By that time, he graduated from the Donetsk Institute of Physical Education in absentia. The athlete switched to coaching. He became the coach of the sports club "Azovmash", from 2005 began to train the youth team of Ukraine in Greco-Roman wrestling. For five years, the team of Ukraine, led by Aji, won 27 medals at the European and World Championships. In 2013, he received the medal “For Labor and Valor” for training the bronze medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2013 Summer Universiade Dmitry Pyshkov ^[4] .

Rustam Aji got married in 20 years. He met his wife Natalya when he was walking in the center of Mariupol. She worked as a cook in kindergarten, currently in the city bureau of technical inventory. In 1993, Aji became a father, his son was named Rustam. Three years later, the second son Maxim was born ^[5] .

He is fond of basketball, he is a fan of Azovmash .

• Rustam Adji - profile on the International Wrestling Database (English)
• Profile on wrestling.ncp.ru (English) , (rus.)