Judo traditionally brings our team medals at the Olympics and World Championships, and the competition within the team is truly fierce.

And now, at the Grand Slam in Baku, the Russians are successfully fighting for medals. David Kelekhsaev, the Russian champion and European Youth Cup winner, could also be at the status tournament.

Even the great coach became interested in the 15-year-old athlete and came to see him. However, it all ended in tragedy.

Stronger than elders

Kelekhsaev was born in Vladikavkaz and represented the North Ossetian judo school. It is difficult to surprise anyone with the successes of judokas from this region, but David was one of the brightest athletes of his generation.

In 2013, he became the winner of the Russian youth championship and the bronze medalist of the European Youth Cup in Turkey, where most of the opponents were three years older. As part of the national team, Kelekhsaev flew to Brazil that same year, where he won gold in the weight category up to 55 kg as part of the World Gymnasiada. These competitions are held every four years among schoolchildren aged 14 to 17 years.

Gymnasiada / Photo: © Wang Tiancong/XinHua/Global Look Press

David also competed at the European Youth Championship in Estonia, where he lost in the “small” final and took the final fifth place. In 2014, he slowed down a little, and was not even able to qualify for the national team due to his age.

Nevertheless, taking into account the merits of the young athlete, he was invited to one of the strongest schools – the Kemerovo “Kuzbass Judo Club”:

— David was on trial with the head coach of the Kemerovo region judo team, Mazami Matsushita. This is an outstanding Japanese coach who trained a whole galaxy of famous athletes, including Ezio Gamba, the 1980 Olympic champion,” commented the executive director of the club, Ulyan Rakshnya, in 2014.

Family problems

The move was a meaningful step on the part of the young athlete and his family and was supposed to mark a new stage in Kelekhsaev’s career. However, David did not have time to start it. On the night of September 13-14, he fainted in the sports dormitory. The doctors who arrived on call only stated death:

“David was a very hard-working guy, he was a good boy. His death came as a shock to us. David was preparing for the next competitions as usual, this season he competed in all the European Cups, and last year he was fifth at the European Youth Championships. True, now I couldn’t qualify for the national team – there was very high competition. We really counted on this talented guy next year, so now it’s hard to believe what happened,” said Vladimir Gladchenko, senior coach of the Russian youth judo team.

David Kelekhsaev / Photo: © Personal archive of David Kelekhsaev

The young athlete had no health problems. At least, the results of the mandatory medical examinations did not alarm anyone on the team:

— According to the documents presented, David constantly underwent medical examinations in the Russian national team, being a member of the youth team. All medical documents were presented when submitting an application to the Kuzbass Judo Club NP,” Rakshnya responded after the tragedy.

The Investigative Committee did not find anything suspicious. The sportsmen who lived with David themselves tried to provide first aid to Kelekhsaev and perform artificial respiration, but these attempts were in vain. And later Vladimir Gladchenko noted:

— As far as I know, this year he started having problems in his family. “He had a very hard time with his parents’ divorce, and even began to perform worse,” added the coach of the national team.

Now Kelekhsaev would be 25 years old, and he could well represent our team at the Grand Slam tournament in Baku. But fate decreed otherwise.