I heard it was your father who got you into armwrestling?

My father practiced martial arts his whole life. , he’s a great authority and a role model for me. When I started armwrestling, he also got into the sport, and although he started competing before I did, it was a long time before he started training professionally.

What stage are you guys on currently?

We’re both into armwrestling “for real” now. I don’t know if you can call it professional level, but we spend lots of time doing it.

How many times have you already started in the Nemiroff?

Six, and I can’t wait for it, the whole tournament is like a great celebration for me.

Your biggest achievement?

4^th place at the 2010 World Cup in Las Vegas. Not a medal place, but with the type of competition involved, I figure it a great success, on par with winning a bronze medal in last year’s European Cup in Gdynia.

I heard you were self – taught?

Self-taught? I am a guy who likes getting things done by myself. So you can say that, but I do appreciate the help of my colleagues and other contestants whom I trust. I learned my basics with Marcin Lachowicz, a distinguished Polish armwrestler. The rest I learned by myself, with some great help from Tomasz Sypniewski. What I am today is the outcome of many fights, sparring partners and hours of training. I always said that one learns from one’s mistakes. Each go at the table is an attempt to eliminate those mistakes and get closer to my goal.

So you think you are your own best advisor, that it’s you who knows best what you need?

Yes, I think so. Many people say that mind plays a great role in sport. With a “weak head” you will lose even when you’re in top physical shape. So maybe I could use a sports psychologist.

Stress can indeed eat a person up a little. And when one’s injured, like you are now..

I’ve been working out with heavy weights for a long time and I got a wrist injury which put me on a bench for 8 months. That wasn’t the only time, sadly, there were many times like this.

Best not to reveal too much, the enemy’s listening ;)

These days I train with smaller weights, putting more stress on details of workout, sparring and isometrics, but I don’t lag in general workout either. This is an injury sport. If you work out too hard and don’t regenerate enough, you will hurt yourself.

Many of your colleagues complain of pain. Young guys, in pain already? How will they feel in 20 years’ time?

I don’t even want to think about it. My elbows are already so degenerated that I can’t straighten them.

And yet you still compete – why is that?

This “defect” doesn’t bother me too much.

You bend your arm anyway while armwrestling, so yeah, I get it ;)

Exactly. When I’m fully regenerated, my elbows don’t bother me at all.

Iza Małkowska