It’s a week before the first ever Eights League is organized in Poland. The main sponsor backs out of the event. Igor Mazurenko is in a very tight spot, working day and night to borrow money to finance the event. His future wife, Annie, is crying at the thought of the debts that they can never get out of. And if that wasn’t enough, one of the contestants is caught trying to get into Poland with a false passport. Mazurenko’s reputation is teetering on the edge, at the very beginning of his career. Despite the event’s lack of financial returns, 3 months later Mazurenko puts up the World Championships in Gdynia. He gets 7 000 PLN from the city council and an additional 2 000 PLN from a sponsor. Back then that amounted to some 3000 USD. Despite that, the tournament earned 10 times more than what was invested.

- Have you made any calculations of possible gain before organizing the Championships? – I ask Igor.

- No – he smiles. – I took a risk. I put everything on one bet, but I knew it was going to work, despite all the problems. My friend promised me to make tables for the contest. I trusted him and waited almost to the last moment. The day before the tournament was supposed to begin, I went to check on the tables. That resulted in me welding and painting the tables myself until well past midnight. 5 o’ clock in the morning the transport troubles began, it started snowing. By sheer luck I managed to organize transport and get the tables to Gdynia, but … my friend forgot to pack the platforms and grips. In 1,5 hour I managed to borrow grips from gyms all around Gdynia, and I personally nailed all the tables to the ground.

560 contestants from 29 countries arrived in Gdynia, the event is hailed the greatest of the year, even better than the Strongmen and the Gdynia Sailing Days. As a reward, Mazurenko got a statuette and a 1000 dollars’ reward.

The statuette is not very pretty, but to me it’s the greatest reward. Why did it work? Because that’s what people wanted to see, and I gave it to them.

Igor Mazurenko – a risk-taker or a visionary? Looking at his work so far, it’s hard to answer this question. We need to dig deeper, into history. In 2002, at the World Championship in Springfield, Illinois, the subject of equipment standards appears.

- One of the most important things on the agenda are tables, which were not the same at every event – says Mazurenko. – I declared to deliver a professional table. This “contest” was also entered by Americans and Canadians. But when all our tables were gathered in one place, the unanimous decision by WAF was that the Mazurenko table is the best. My maple leaf tables, that I delivered personally, are used in Canada to this day.

Every year at the WAF congress, a poll is taken to choose the location of the next World Championships. Mazurenko’s entry is rejected many times. In 2007, Bulgaria gets the Championships, and this event has the record number of contestants and level of organization. 900 contestants from 42 countries make an entry. Bulgaria then goes on to be the uncontested event Champion of the world for many years. Up until the year 2013, when Mazurenko gets to organize the event. 1200 contestants from 49 countries arrive in Gdynia in September.

- We booked about a 1000 sleeping places at first – recalls Mazurenko. – two weeks before the tournament we had to book some additional 500 places, for the contestants and their accompanying parties.

The World Championship in Gdynia is hailed the best ever organized. And it’s not only because of the number of contestants, but also the new camera system of refereeing.

- WAF was very conservative about introducing new technologies – says Mazurenko. – And in addition, to introduce cameras WAF would have to pay for the equipment, and the price for one table was 10 000 USD.

Igor Mazurenko decides to take matters into his own hands. The organizing team for 2013 World Championships rents the equipment to demonstrate live the benefits of the system. Mazurenko knows very well, that soon the new technologies will revolutionize the sport. However, the new ways meet with some opposition from quite a few contestants. Why is that?

This far the rules were simple: elbow off the pad means a foul. Some tried to rationalize, that a slight raising of the elbow or sliding it off the pad a little gives no real advantage to the offender. But the cameras never lie. Arwmwrestlers are talking of the cameras’ taking away the glamour of the fight. But the real problem is the referees’ lack of education. They haven’t mastered the system fully yet. This way, a useful tool becomes the armwrestlers’ enemy nr. 1.

- We have drawn conclusions, and they are that we need to educate the refs to work with camera - says Mazurenko. – And I want to stress that not everyone is fit to do it, we have selected a group of highly specialized refs. Who is to decide which elbow foul is permissible, and which affects the fight in a major way? That’s what the cameras are for.

But the camera system was not born on the Championships in Gdynia. It is used for the first time during the Brzenk – Ivakin armfight in Yalta. The first referee to use it is Marcin Mielniczuk, current IT CEO of the Mazurenko team. A year later, during a tutorial in camera work, a female referee makes a mistake when giving verdict. Roman Tsindeliani is disqualified on a foul that did not happen. But thanks to the camera records, his verdict is reviewed and he gets back in the rankings, as well as getting his reward money.

- This is why I think cameras should be used in refereeing – says Mazurenko. – we will definitely keep going in that direction.

Setting of new trends is definitely Igor’s specialty. 2013 is the moment when final decisions are made concerning the TOP 16. Even though the project will launch in 2014, it’s general vision was born in Mazurenko’s head back in 2001.

- I’ve had this idea in my head right from the start of my armwrestling career – recalls Mazurenko.- One of the first professional armwrestling programs was the creation of PAL in 2001and organizing my first event. Through different venues, like the Armfights, The Eights and the Vendettas we have gained so much experience, that our success is guaranteed in 2014! One of the biggest advertising agencies in the world has entered the project in January 2013, in March I went to USA to talk with my partners, in August we set up a company and in October, in Las Vegas the PAL and TOP 16 headquarters was opened. The year 2014 belongs to us!

Iza Małkowska