Mikhail Mamiashvili"I believe that United World Wrestling is going to ban the United States from hosting any event of this level in future," Mamiashvili, told the Russian TASS news agency on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted the following at its website Tuesday (and included in an article in The Moscow Times): "We were forced to take note that Washington's line of trying to cause problems for our country in the international arena has now even affecting the sporting sphere."
"We have serious concerns about the refusal to let the Olympic champion and the president of the Wrestling Federation of Russia Mikhail Mamiashvili into the United States." (In addition to those duties, Mamiashvili is also vice-president of United World Wrestling and the head of the organization's judging committee. As a wrestler, Mamiashvili won a gold medal in Greco-Roman at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and a total of five medals -- three gold, two silver -- at World Championships from 1983-1990. He was inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2008.)
"We would like the American powers that be to remember that sport is separate from politics. We would like to wish our wrestlers the best of luck in the championships and there will be no repeat of the unfair practices that have unfortunately been carried out by the U.S. administration on the wrestling mat."
If all this weren't enough, event organizers played the wrong anthem when Russia's Roman Vlasov won his second world championship gold medal in Greco-Roman competition at 75 kilos/165 pounds. As the website Russia Beyond The Headlines reported Tuesday, "When Vlasov rose on the podium, 'The Patriotic Song' by Mikhail Glinka, which was the Russian national anthem from 1990 to 2000, was played. But now the music of the Soviet national anthem composed by Alexander Alexandrov is being used once again ..."
"I do not know what anthem was played, and at first did not even pay any attention to it. But after a while, I realized that this was not our anthem," said Vlasov.
"When this foreign anthem ended and some fuss started, I said that I would not come down from the pedestal until the Russian anthem is played! It is for that moment on the pedestal that we toil all year, and they play some other anthem at the award ceremony for some reason."
Event organizers later made a formal apology to the Russian squad for the national anthem mix-up.
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