Amidst a damning national doping scandal that shocked the global sports community, the Russian Olympic team was dealt another blow when the president of their national wrestling federation allegedly assaulted a member of the team following her bronze medal match in Rio de Janeiro. The case, while ongoing, shed light on one of the most influential figures in Russian combat sports and his reputedly repugnant past.

Mikhail Mamiashvili, the aforementioned head of Russian wrestling, was reportedly intoxicated when he arrived backstage on August 18 following Inna Trazhukova's bronze medal match loss in the women's 63kg division. According to her account, he attacked the unsuspecting 25-year-old and hit her twice across the face, while barking in front of witnesses.

Trazhukova reported the news to Russia's Sport-Express herself, and insisted that she wanted to "put an end to [this treatment of female athletes] so that sportswomen do not suffer from this in future." She filed a complaint with the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko and contacted law enforcement to press charges. However, although Mutko has acknowledged the "conflict" between Mamiashvili and Trazhukova, he has yet to condemn the federation head's alleged show of violence against a woman.

Mamiashvili has since denied Trazhukova's accusation and added that she did not act honorably in her final match and instead chose to simply give away the silver medal. He insisted that he did not hit the wrestler and showed no remorse for his actions. The Georgian native informed the media that no court decision would change the way he handles his athletes.

"No court can convince me that I may not express my feelings about the limp and indifferent person," he said. "I did not come to Brazil to wipe their noses, but to comfort the athletes when they do their best in battle, but lose. On no account does it include people who have weak will, so to speak."

However, while Trazhukova stated that her assault occurred in front of numerous witnesses, she has thus far been unable to get any to testify. Though the reasons remain unclear, it is worth a look at the unsavory background of the notorious character the athletes and coaches are being asked to testify against -- a man with extraordinary influence among the Russian elite, and a reputation for deep-set ties with the Georgian mafia in Moscow.

Olympian turned Gangster

Born and raised in Soviet-era Ukraine to a Georgian family, Mamiashvili began Greco-Roman wrestling a few years before he moved to Moscow in 1982. The talented grappler made the cut for the Soviet national team shortly thereafter and began his illustrious career as a champion. Mamiashvili won gold at the 1983, 1985, and 1986 World Championships but had to wait until Seoul in 1988 to become an Olympic champion because of the Soviet Olympic boycott. Instead, the Georgian competed in the Friendship Games and took home gold.

Following an international career that included seven gold and two silver medals, Mamiashvili retired from professional competition in the early 1990s. He took on jobs as an official before he became the head coach of the Russian National Greco-Roman team and then the Unified Team's Olympic wrestling team in 1992. Three years later, Mamiashvili was elected vice-president of the Russian Wrestling Federation, a position he held until 2001 when he was promoted to his current position of president.

At a glance, Mamiashvili's career trajectory is impressive, yet it is also as suspicious as it is inspiring.

While in the midst of his burgeoning sports career, Mamiashvili met Otari Kvantrishvili, the most influential Georgian gangster to operate in Russia during the 1980s and 90s. Kvantrishvili, a world-champion wrestler, started out as a pimp who collected nightly earnings from sex workers in Moscow hotels. He was later convicted for gang rape in 1966. Once released, he became a wrestling trainer and used his position to recruit willing athletes for his criminal syndicate.

By 1980, Kvantrishvili's reputation preceded him and his network had grown considerably. According to one source, the Georgian's scope of influence spread across all the major crime syndicates in Russia, including liubertskaia, solntsevskaia, baumanskaia, and dolgoprudnenskaia. At one point, his empire included multiple banks and casinos throughout Russia.

According to Crime Russia, athletes Kvantrishvili enticed with the Moscow underworld is Mamiashvili. According to the Russian Internal Ministry's Department for Combating Organized Crime (DCOC), Mamiashvili was one of two men responsible for security related to a criminal front called "Rambis." The Georgian continued to grow under Kvantrishvili's tutelage" Mamishvili and criminal colleague Slushaev were referred to as Kvantrishvili's kids.

The fall of the Soviet Union served up bountiful capitalist opportunities for the mobsters. During the first half of the chaotic, free-for-all 1990s in transitional Russia, Kvantrishvili was similar to Italian-American mobster John Gotti in that he was the brash, public face of gangsters in Russia. He rubbed shoulders with celebrities and politicians before announcing that he wanted to form his own political party, the ‘Sportsmen of Russia.'

However, Kvantrishvili's plans came to a screeching halt when he was assassinated by a sniper attack while leaving a bathhouse in 1994. Mamiashvili, for his part, decided that another career path was in order.

Ruler of Russian Wrestling Controversy

Mamiashvili has long been in control of wrestling's highest order.

Mamiashvili became the president of the Russian Wrestling Federation, a FILA Bureau Member, and the vice president of United World Wrestling, the governing body for Olympic wrestling.

During Mamishvili's ongoing stint with the UWW, several controversies have occurred within wrestling as a sport or within the wrestling community or something like that. Several athletes alleged corruption and biased officials at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing and a repetition of that occurred at the 2016 Games in Rio. The International Olympic Committee also attempted to remove wrestling from the Olympic Games ahead of Tokyo 2020, which forced UWW president Raphaël Martinetti to resign. During that time, Mamishvili remained firmly latched to his position of power. Yet while the aforementioned concerns are significant issues that suggest potential corruption and supreme incompetence in the world of wrestling and its leadership, it seems that the most controversial moments that highlighted Mamashvili's reign as president of the Russian Wrestling Federation involved issues with the North Causasus.

At the Russian World Team Trials in May 2016, a Chechen athlete lost to his opponent and decided to pick a fight in the immediate aftermath. This started a brawl at the tournament that saw one man even draw a gun. Mamishvili later announced an "internal investigation." The Chechen sportsman was the son of a highly regarded and influential man in Chechnya, and thus, no charges were ever filed.

Within the same month of May, Mamishvili was dealt another scandal. The vice-president of the Russian Wrestling Federation, Adlan Varayev, was declared missing in the mountains of Chechnya. Trustworthy information surrounding the events that occurred that day are nonexistent, though Mamishvili publicly claimed that his second-in-command fell off a cliff near the Nikhaloy village in Chechnya when he attempted to take a selfie. His car was discovered near the cliff and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov declared a volunteer search for the missing official.

Varayev's body was discovered on June 19 in Chishki, 25km away from where the athlete had allegedly fallen into the Argun River. His death was ruled an accident. Authorities never questioned whether something more sinister was at hand.

"Everything is God's will!" Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram page. "He has left the righteous world a beloved and respected man. Our First President, Hero of Russia Akhmad Hadji Kadyrov appreciated Adlan and was on friendly terms with him. I express sincere condolences to the family, near and dear to Adlan. May Allah have mercy on him! #Kadyrov #Varayev #Russia #Chechnya"

While nothing suggests Mamiashvili was involved in any wrongdoing on this particular occasion, he maintains healthy ties with Kadyrov and even visited Chechnya a week after Varayev went missing.

Sports Socialization

Given Mamiashvili's shady background and controversial ties, it is little wonder the head of the Russian Wrestling Federation is unable to obtain a visa into the United States or Finland. However, his scope of influence is far-reaching on a domestic scale.

Mamiashvili has shown a keen awareness for the importance of sports socialization in troubled regions of Russia. He understands the position of sports in the political sphere and how it can manipulate the masses.

"The interest to engage in martial arts in the country is huge," Mamiashvili said in 2009. "Classes develop the boy's love for the motherland, respect for elders, strength of mind. On the mat, they grow into men able to overcome difficulties and achieve their goals. The Chechen leadership understands this."

The Chechen leadership did understand this. Since that statement in 2009, Kadyrov has funded an MMA promotion, a kickboxing promotion, a boxing promotion, and countless gyms and facilities to indoctrinate over 40,000 Chechen youngsters into the longstanding structure of sports socialization. As Mamiashvili so adequately phrased it, the youngsters learn a "love for the motherland" -- an opportunity to represent Russia in professional competition instead of fight in an Islamic insurgency against it.

Many might believe that providing improved education or living standards in troubled regions is the key to social mobility; instead Mamiashvili and Kadyrov seem to want all Russians believe that the only avenue to social mobility is sports.

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When Trazhukova spoke out against Mamiashvili's assault in Rio, she displayed the courage necessary to shed light on such an influential figure in Russian sports. For years, the reputed gangster wielded tremendous influence over athletes. Though it is unlikely that the renowned Russian sportsman will be dealt any legal action because of his powerful status, his reputation has taken yet another blow.

Yet despite the damning incident, Mamiashvili remains a celebrated character in Russian sports and a product of the post-Soviet capitalist culture: an athlete reputed to be a gangster turned supposed role model for Russian athletes.