For the national sports Mammadov Ilgar Yashar oglu is a legendary figure. He is a two-time Olympic champion in foil fencing, a world champion and a multiple winner of the European Cup. Currently, the famous athlete is the coach of the Russian fencing team. We will tell about his life and career in the article.
Biography
Future champion Ilgar Mammadov was born on 1965-15-11 in the Azerbaijani capital. As a child, he read The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. The boy liked everything that was connected with the era of those times: noble knights, swords and duels. Ilgar's father is a swordsman, and his son followed in his footsteps. But not immediately: at first he became interested in music and played the piano from the age of five to eleven. And the sports path began with the boxing section, but later changed its appearance under the influence of the pope. By the way, Ilgar's two brothers are also swordsmen, so the "three musketeers" grew up in the family. So that the boys would not have to meet on the path, the father came up with one trick: the eldest son was offered fencing with swords, the middle one - with rapiers, and the youngest - with sabers.
In 1987Ilgar Mammadov graduated from the Institute of Physical Culture in Baku. In 2008, he received his second higher education at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Sports career
From the late 1980s, the young athlete began to play for CSKA Moscow, his personal coach was Mark Midler. In 1988, fencer Ilgar Mammadov went to his first Olympics in Korean Seoul. He was still an inexperienced rapierist, so they did not have much hope for him. However, it was at these Games that the fencer won his first gold medal as part of the USSR national team. A year later, the Soviet team repeated their success at the world championship in Denver, USA.
At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Ilgar Mammadov and his teammates failed: they had to be content with only fifth place. In 1995, the fencer became the owner of the European Cup and the silver medalist of the world championship in the team foil. Subsequently, he won the European Cup three more times: in 1996, 1998 and 2000
At the 1996 Games, held in Atlanta, Ilgar Mammadov won the second Olympic gold in his life. In 2000, the fencer traveled to Sydney, Australia for his last Olympics. At that time he was 34 years old - a respectable age for a fencer. The athlete hoped to win and complete his sports career on a loud note, but this failed: he was left without medals.
Further work
At the end of his career, Ilgar Mammadov left for the USA and became a student team coachuniversity in Ohio. He spent a year and a half overseas and missed Russia very much. In 2001 he returned to Moscow to participate in the celebration dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Russian fencing. At the banquet, the Olympic champion was introduced to Alisher Usmanov, the president of the Russian Federation in this sport, who promised to find Mammadov a good job in Russia.
After his return from the USA, the former foil fencer worked in the FFR, from 2008 to 2016. was a member of the Referee Commission of the FIE - International Fencing Federation.
In October 2012, Ilgar Mammadov was appointed head coach of the Russian fencing team. This position is currently held.
As a coach
Before Mammadov headed the national team, our team had not won world championships for eleven consecutive years. And with his arrival, three victories in the team event at the world championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015 followed at once, where our fencers won 11, 8 and 9 medals, respectively.
In 2016, the Russian national team led by Ildar Mammadov won the team first place at the European Championship, the World Championship and the Olympic Games. In Rio de Janeiro, Russian fencers won 7 medals, 4 of which were gold.
At the post-Olympic world championship in Leipzig, Germany in 2017, our team came second in the medal standings, winning three golds and three bronzes. Russian fencers finished the 2018 World Championship less successfully: fifth place overall and seven medals, of which only onegolden.
Awards and titles
Ilgar Mammadov is an Honored Master of Sports of the USSR and an Honored Coach of Russia. In 1997, he received the gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation for his achievements at the Atlanta Olympics. In 2014, he was awarded a presidential diploma for merits in the development of sports and achievements at the Universiade in Kazan.
The famous athlete also has medals "For Labor Valor" and "For Services to the Fatherland" in his piggy bank. In 2017 he received the Order of Honor for the successful preparation of fencers for the Olympics in Brazil.
Family
Ilgar Mammadov is married and has two daughters. His wife, Elena Zhemaeva, is also a fencer; she is a two-time European and world champion, winner of the World Cup, participant in the 2004 Olympic Games as part of the Azerbaijani team.
The eldest daughter Milena was born in 1997. As a child, she was engaged in fencing, but then she cooled down to the sport and focused on her studies. Now the girl is studying at the Peoples' Friendship University. The youngest daughter Ayla was born in 2005. She also became interested in sports rapier, loves this kind very much, trains hard and successfully competes.
Fencing Center
In September 2018, Ilgar Mammadov opened his Fencing Center in Novogorsk. This is a multifunctional complex built according to all new international standards.
In the main hall of the center there are eighteen fencing lanes equipped with modern fencing equipment,registering injections. The complex is planned to hold competitions of different levels: from regional to international. Now Russian fencers have their own home, and new champions will undoubtedly grow up in it.
