The Olympic boxing tournament in Paris ended on August 10. The Uzbek national team performed particularly well at these competitions, winning five gold medals in this sport. This is a national record. The highest prize will be taken home by Khasanboy Dusmatov, Abdumalik Khalokov, Asadkhudzha Muydinkhudzhaev, Lazizbek Mullajonov and Bakhodir Jalolov.
One of the main architects of this success is the national team coach Tulkin Kilichev. He not only trained the most powerful Olympic team in Uzbekistan. For example, Israil Madrimov, who recently almost surprised the whole world in a duel with Terence Crawford, also passed through his hands. However, the Paris Olympics could have ended very tragically for the 41-year-old specialist.
Khasanboy Dusmatov
Photo: Mauro Pimentel – Pool/Getty Images
On August 8, Kilichev suffered a heart attack after his pupil Khasanboy Dusmatov won the final and took Olympic gold. The British publication The Guardian reported on the details of the incident. As it turned out, in the warm-up area after the celebration, Kilichev fell ill and, fortunately for him, Great Britain’s team doctor Harj Singh and team physiotherapist Robbie Lillis were there. They saved the coach: they performed artificial respiration and used a defibrillator.
“The Uzbekistan coaching staff came back to the warm-up area and everyone was celebrating the wins, and then from a place where there was no celebration, we heard screams. There was a scream for help from a medic. Kharge was the first to respond and I ran after him with my emergency bag. I arrived about 30 seconds after Kharge, when he had already started performing CPR on the coach. Many people around were agitated by the whole situation, it took us a while to get everyone out of the way. I opened my bag, took out the defibrillator and put the electrodes on him as quickly as possible. After analyzing his heart rate, Kharge said we needed to shock him immediately, so we got everyone out and did that,” Lillis said of what happened.
It took about half a minute for doctors to bring Kilichev back to consciousness, and the coach was taken to the hospital for further help. Lillis said she stayed up all night from an overload of emotions: “I’m grateful that I was able to do my part and help someone survive. My mom said something really nice: ‘This is your Olympic moment.’”
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Singh, in turn, said that he would try to visit Kilichev in the hospital. The specialist’s condition is now considered stable. Most likely, he has already been given good news about other Olympic winners of the Uzbekistan team. Dusmatov brought the team the first medal, and the rest did the same. Kilichev continued to recover all this time. The national team’s coaching staff has already noted that the specialist has improved noticeably.
It must be said that the Uzbek team was surprised that Kilichev fell ill so suddenly and, apparently, they were not able to correctly assess the situation right away. They were all very lucky to have British doctors nearby.
Kilichev has been working with the Uzbekistan national team for 10 years, leading it to outstanding achievements, and I want to believe that he will be able to educate and raise new boxing stars for many more years to come.
