Yuri Evseichik ( he, יורי יבסייצ'יק, russian: Юрий Евсейчик; born 23 January 1971 in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

) is a retired amateur Israeli

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

wrestler, who competed in the men's super heavyweight category.

Wrestling career

Considered one of the world's top Greco-Roman wrestlers in his decade, Evseitchik emerged into the international scene with his blistering

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

effort at the

1998 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 1998 World Wrestling Championships. Men's Freestyle competition were held in Tehran, Iran. Men's Greco-Roman competition were held in Gävle, Sweden and Women's competition were held in Poznań, Poland. Me ...

, and later represented as part of the Israeli team in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004). Since he emigrated to Israel at the age of 20, Evseitchik became a member of the Maccabi Eilat Club under his personal coaches Boris Tabachnik and Leonid Shulman. Evseichik did not compete internationally until 1998, when he became the bronze medalist in the 130 kg division at the World Championships in

Gävle Gävle () is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland (Swede ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

as part of Israel's Greco-Roman wrestling team. Two years later, Evseichik made his official debut at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where he competed in the men's super heavyweight division (130 kg). He managed to score a total of 11 technical points and a powerful set of three triumphs to defeat Czech Republic's David Vála, Turkey's Fatih Bakir, and Poland's Marek Sitnik to earn a spot in the knockout rounds. When Evseitchik reached the semifinals, he led U.S. wrestler Rulon Gardner in the opening bout, but began to exasperate during the match and lost his fight in overtime with a default score of 3–2. Evseitchik ended his Olympic campaign with a disheartening defeat in the bronze medal match against Belarus'

Dmitry Debelka Dmitry Vladimirovich Debelka ( be, Дзмітрый (Зьміцер) Уладзіміравіч Дзябёлка; 7 January 1976 – February 2022) was a Belarusian wrestler who competed in the Men's Greco-Roman 130 kg at the 2000 Summer Olympic ...

, and a fourth-place finish. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Evseichik qualified for the men's 120 kg class by receiving a berth and beating Sweden's

Eddy Bengtsson Eddy Bengtsson (born April 30, 1979, in Gothenburg) is a Swedish retired wrestler who competed in the Men's Greco-Roman 120 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics. Bengtsson retired from wrestling and competed in many grapplin ...

in the third round of the Olympic Qualification Tournament in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

. Unlike his previous Games, Evseitchik suffered through a surprisingly vulnerable game plan as he was haplessly pinned by Cuba's

Mijaín López Mijaín López Núñez (born 20 August 1982) is a Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a four-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time World Champion, and five-time Pan American Games champion and is widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers of ...

three times, and could not recover his form after losing out to Turkey's

Yekta Yılmaz Gül Yekta Yılmaz Gül (born December 1, 1978 in Tirebolu, Giresun Province) is a Turkish professional Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed for the men's 120 kg division. He is a member of the İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K. Gül studied at ...

on his second bout, finishing third in the prelim pool and nineteenth in the overall rankings without acquiring a single point.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evseichik, Yuri 1971 births Living people Israeli male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Israel Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Ukrainian emigrants to Israel Sportspeople from Donetsk World Wrestling Championships medalists