All-Russian Sambo Day

November 16 marks All-Russian Sambo Day, a Soviet and later international form of combat sports, which was created by domestic enthusiasts at the beginning of the last century This discipline almost managed to become an Olympic sport, but, alas, politics intervened in the situation The boycott of the 1980 Olympics played a fatal role in the fate of sambo, which at first received only the status of a demonstration discipline, and then, by decision of the IOC, lost it too The term “sambo” is an acronym derived from the expression “self-defense without weapons” This sports discipline appeared in the 1920s of the last century It was based on the most effective techniques for defense and attack, taken from Japanese martial arts From that moment on, sambo began to develop in two main directions On the one hand, it was a mass sport, the peak of whose popularity occurred in the second half of the last century On the other hand, sambo was used as a means of training future intelligence officers In 1923, self-defense classes began at the Dynamo sports society, taught by Viktor Spiridonov A retired military man who once took part in the First World War, he has long been studying jiu-jitsu Spiridonov trained using manuals and tutorials that were published in Russia and Europe at that time At that time, Dynamo conducted a large-scale study of the national martial arts of different peoples of the world, but Japanese techniques were of the greatest interest to domestic specialists Spiridonov's classes were closed According to his program, which became the starting point for the development of sambo, personnel for special forces were trained The second significant figure in the history of this sports discipline was Vasily Oshchepkov A future student of the Tokyo Kodokan Judo Institute, he was born in Karafuto, the southern part of Sakhalin, which became part of Japan after the Treaty of Portsmouth He lived in this country for a long time, studied at a seminary as part of the Russian Orthodox mission and was actively involved in judo Oshchepkov graduated from the Kodokan Institute After moving to the USSR, during one of his visits to Japan, he successfully passed the exam, becoming the first Russian to receive second dan in judo At that time, there were only five dans in this Japanese martial art, their number increased much later Oshchepkov taught the basics of judo at the Moscow Institute of Physical Education However, he was not just a teacher, this man was engaged in improving the combat discipline, looking for new techniques and gradually moving further and further away from the classical canons of judo Through the efforts of Oshchepkov, the basic principles that formed the basis of sambo were formed At the same time, the new discipline merged with Spiridonov’s self-defense system The third important character in the history of sambo was Anatoly Kharlampiev This man was actively involved in the study of martial arts, which were developed in different parts of the world Kharlampiev was one of Oshchepkov’s students, who made a great contribution to the popularization of sambo in the USSR Sambo's birthday was not chosen by chance On November 16, 1938, an official document appeared in which Sambo was recognized as a new sport After the order was issued, sambo schools began to open their doors in all republics, which received the status of an international sport only 28 years later The Olympic “career” of this discipline ended just before it began, but this did not extinguish interest in it Today, sambo is still a popular sport Sambo is not only a martial arts, but also an education system, a real forge of the spirit in which a person’s will is tempered In addition to being in good physical shape, active activities develop perseverance, perseverance, and the ability to control oneself in extreme situations Its basics are learned not only by athletes, but also by politicians, musicians, and actors Some of the most famous sambo wrestlers are Fedor Emelianenko, Oleg Taktarov, Vladimir Putin, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Igor Kurinnoy