The Russian Olympic Medalist Retires from Judo
The heavyweight vice-champion at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Russian Alexander Mikhaylin, announced his retirement this Friday, June 13th, on the International Judo Federation website. The 34 year-old athlete says good-bye to sport as an idol not only for the Russian people but also for all judo fans.
The first step of this world judo elite athlete was given in 1996 when he was just 17 and he was silver-awarded in the European Junior Championships. After this, the 195cm- and 115kg -judoka has been growing within this sport.
Over the 17 years of his high-level career, Mikhaylin, who defeated Rafael Silva in the Olympics and took the title, has got, apart from the long awaited Olympic medal, three golds, one silver and three bronzes in the Senior World Championships and one medal in the European Championships, six of them being gold.
