Ilya Mate

Ilya Mate

Ilya Mate in 1980
Personal information
Born	6 October 1956 (age 59) Starohnativka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine
Alma mater	Donbas National Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Height	187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	100 kg (220 lb)
Sport
Sport	Freestyle wrestling
Club	Kolos Donetsk
Medal record Competitor for the  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1980 Moscow -100 kg World Championships 1979 San Diego -100 kg 1981 Skopje -100 kg 1982 Edmonton -100 kg European Championships 1979 Bucharest -100 kg

Illya Fedorovych Mate (Ukrainian: Ілля Федорович Мате, born 6 October 1956) is a retired Ukrainian freestyle wrestler. He won gold medals at the 1980 Olympics and 1979 and 1982 world championships, finishing third in 1981.^[1][2]

Mate was born to a Greek father and Ukrainian mother. He took up wrestling in 1970 and won the Soviet heavyweight title in 1978–80 and 1982. After retiring from competitions he worked as an entrepreneur in Donetsk, and remained involved with the Donetsk Wrestling Federation. Since 2003, an annual junior freestyle wrestling tournament has been held in Donetsk Oblast in his honor.^[1]

References

1. "Ilia Mate". Sports Reference LLC.
2. Mate, Ilja (URS). iat.uni-leipzig.de