Both athletes have reached to the top and then retired while they were the best in our sport. Гудридж chose fighting while Aleksey chose Bobsleigh - a Winter Olympic Sport. Goodridge's choice took so much away from his armwrestling abilities and he was far from his best times when he competed in armwrestling again but Aleksey's choice helped him to keep his explosiveness effective while he lost his usual horsepower as he had to be lighter in weight. Goodridge's armwrestling career was longer than the years that Aleksey was involved in armwrestling. Both of these athletes were very technical especially for super heavy weight category pullers. Gary was faster, more aggressive and more rounded than Aleksey, while Aleksey's main style was more effective as a technique. Both athletes stayed at the top for only a couple of years before they retired. 

It has been 10 years since Voevoda left our sport , except the time that he made a short come back and beat Michael Todd in an Armfight. I believe that 10 years of absence took something away from him but being a Champion of an Olympic Sport added him so much as well. In our sport we have not reached the professionalism of the Olympic Sport disciplines yet and Aleksey to be part of that world must have added him a lot of pluses. As I mentioned before that he does not seem to be damaged by his sport. Also in his absent years we have seen him giving training matches to the top Russian athletes. To me that meant that his heart has always being with armwrestling. Armwrestling is a physical combat sport that you actually beat your opponent in a physical way. The satisfaction of it is stronger than the sports that are involving physical combat. Aleksey has been there and I bet he wants what he thinks belongs to him back. We have seen him training for some months already and I believe that he has chance to be the very best in the world.

I must also mention that the level of the super heavy weight class today is higher than the time that he has retired. Pushkar that he has faced 10 years ago is much stronger today. I do not know if he will ever get to pull the other best athletes such as Dave Chaffee and Michael Todd because of their contacts with other organizations but it will be a shame if they would never meet each other. There has never been any other athlete who is remembered almost everyday even 10 years after his retirement except Aleksey Voevoda. There have always been polls about how he would do against the current best pullers and we hope that he soon will be a part of armwrestling.

Engin Terzi