After Russian wrestler Inna Trazhukova lost her bronze medal match on Thursday, she says she was physically abused by the head of the Russian wrestling federation, Mikhail Mamiashvili, according to Russia’s Sport-Express.
Trazhukova said in Russian that when she met Mamiashvili after she lost the match, he was drunk, rude and said obscenities to her. Trazhukova said Mamiashvili also hit her in the face twice, and there was a witness present. She intends to file charges with a prosecutor upon her return to Moscow.
“He embarrassed me in public,” Trazhukova said in Russian. “I want to stop this so female athletes in the future don’t suffer because of him.”
Mamiashvili told Sport-Express in Russian that Trazhukova didn’t act honorably in the bronze medal match by coming out and “not wanting” to fight, essentially giving the medal away. He acknowledged that after she lost the match, they had a harsh conversation and said that Trazhukova’s trainer was hysterical, and Mamiashvili left in order to calm her trainer. He told Championat that while there was a conversation with raised voices, he didn’t hit Trazhukova and her trainer could testify to that.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told Sport-Express that because he is in Moscow, it is difficult for him to make a decision about something that happened in Rio de Janeiro. He said that if something happened, Trazhukova should come straight to him as soon as she returns to Moscow and they’ll get to the bottom of it.