Tim! I’m very impressed with your composure. You walked on stage, rubbing talcum in your hands as if you were washing them  Is that a trained composure or are you just that peaceful by nature? Or is that a strategy?

First of all, when I approach the stage, I keep my mind on the job at hand. Second – working with animals taught me ways to pacify others, instead of provoking them. I utilize that in my fights, trying to lower my opponent’s adrenaline levels. It helps a lot.

I watched your fight with Semerenko. I saw you get a little disoriented when he started shouting “elbow, elbow” in his language. After the fight he punched the table and ran off stage. What were your thoughts in that moment?

I don’t speak Russian, so I was more than a little baffled, I had no idea what he was saying. But if I also got angry, I’d have just made the situation worse.

Still on Semerenko. When he stormed off the stage, you just stood aside and watched the audience. Was that surprise or are you just that peaceful by nature?

I’m not very peaceful, but I do have a lot of respect for my opponents.

Talking to Binnie, Chros said everything was ok, but he was surprised with the level of refereeing. In Binnie’s opinion, the USA way of armwrestling is very different from the European. Do you agree?

I have no objections towards the referees, we’re all human after all. It’s the bias that aggravates me.

As for Denis, Andrey and the others – that was bullshit. On our level of armwtrestling, giving up the hand without a fight is not worthy of a champion. How can Denis think he’s number one in left hand, when he pulled 3 out of 11 fights of the left hand day? Armwrestling is not a team sport, it’s everyone for themselves.

Iza Małkowska