The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has temporarily recognized Sambo as an Olympic sport.

This was announced by the President of the International Sambo Federation Vasily Shestakov.

“Today the dream of sambists from the whole world has come true - sambo as a sport has received temporary recognition from the International Olympic Committee.

It is especially pleasant that this happened in the year of the 80th anniversary of sambo, two weeks after the birthday of our favorite sport. The next step is to get the permanent recognition of the IOC and to include it in the program of the Olympic Games. I am sure we will cope with this! ”- said Shestakov.

The President of the International Sambo Federation also spoke about the path and development of the sport.

“In the first world sambo championship in Tehran in 1973, athletes from 11 countries took part, last year at the world championship in Sochi - from 90 countries from five continents. Currently, sambo is developing in several disciplines and is a popular sport available to almost anyone. And such sambo stars like Fedor Emelianenko and Habib Nurmagomedov are the idols of millions of people around the world, ”said Shestakov.