From an early age, Soslan was involved in sports, like many other children. Armwrestling is not his first sport, however, as the athlete claims, sooner or later he would start to do it:

"My name is Soslan Gassiev, I'm 20 years old. I started to practice armwrestling at the age of 13, before that I was engaged in wrestling, but I was injured and could not continue. I always felt the strength in my hands and I think that in any case I would have been in arm wrestling, since I always liked this sport, I liked fighting in my arms. Deserved trainer of South Ossetia – Bolotayev Vladimir – trains me. In training I work more with iron, and closer to the competition I already work with partners and with the coach at the table".

After several years of training, Soslan showed a good result and as the athlete is supposed to, he remembers his first significant victory:

"The first significant victory, this is probably my first European championship in juniors-18. Then I pulled for the first time at the international arena and there were a lot of emotions, especially after the victory on my right hand. Then I made a golden double, and on the right hand I beat Oguzan Kocak, a Turkish athlete, who is now performing very well. For me, all my victories are important – if I prepare and go to some competitions, then they are important and meaningful to me".

Soslan’s pulling at the Europeans can definitely be called successful, as he has three medals:

"I am very pleased with my performance, because I have two gold medals among youth and a bronze medal in senior class. I think that I could pull in seniors even better, but overall I am satisfied with the result. The most difficult opponent for me, probably, was Sasho Andreev, to be honest, I thought he would be weaker, but he surprised me a lot".

Senior category of up to 90 kg, in which Soslan fought, was perhaps the most difficult and spectacular:

"The category was very good, there were a lot of strong athletes and I think that the final result is fair and fully reflects the real situation in the category. When in the preliminary matches Evgeniy Prudnik won Sasha Andreev, it was so easy that the coach and I decided that Evgeniy is in very good shape and it's better not to pull him, but to try to reach the final and pull there. When I was called to fight with Evgeniy, he immediately made a grip, and it was already uncomfortable for me, I did not even try to compete for the grip in order to impose my way of pulling. As a result, after that I lost to Sasho Andreev in the semifinal, in the final he twice won against Evgeniy. I regret that I had not given all 100% to the fight against Evgeniy".

Also Soslan noted the organization and the city hosting the championship and told what fights he most remembered:

"This European Championship had a lot of things I remember, I liked the organization and the city in which the tournament was held. I want to say thanks to Olesya Romanenko, who worked hard and tried to make the championship more interesting and more fun. Of the fights, I remember my final with an athlete from Georgia and the fight with Sasha Andreev on his left arm".

The sportsman shared his further plans and it seems that we will see Soslan Gassiev again soon:

"Now I have plans to pull at the All-Russian tournament in memory of the deserved coach of Russia in armwrestling, Honored Master of Sports in arm-wrestling and weightlifting – Enaldiyev Aslanbek Inalovich. After, most likely, I will begin preparations for the Worls. I'm not sure yet, but if there is a place, I will pull at the world and among seniors".

Already, Soslan Gassiev, being a junior, competes on an equal with the best sportsmen of his category and many of them win. He has a spectacular style of fighting and it's nice to watch his fights. We will follow the development of his career, and tell you about it. Write your comments, stay with us and watch the news on armpower.net.