HAFIZOV Ildar

General
NATIONALITY SWITCH
Born and raised in Uzbekistan, he represented the country of his birth at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He emigrated to the United States of America in 2014, and represented his new nation for the first time in early 2016. "I came here [United States] to find a better life. I came here for the Dave Schultz [wrestling] tournament in 2010 and I really liked Colorado Springs and the United States. I went back and told my wife about the US, and we decided to move. First, we had to apply for the green card. We applied twice and won the second time." (teamusa.org, 21 Apr 2017; armywcap.com, 12 Oct 2020)

RIO REDEMPTION
He admits that failing to secure a qualification berth for the United States of America at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro affected him for several years. "It [2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament] was my first really big tournament where I was representing the USA. It was too much pressure on me. No one put that pressure on me, I put it there myself. It really hurt me for a couple of years, but when I lost in 2016, that motivated me to wrestle better and smarter." He felt relieved after securing his new nation a place at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "I was so proud to qualify the USA [for Tokyo]. I did something for country, not only for myself. The qualifications don't go by name, it goes by country. And now when they say the USA has that many qualifications for the Olympic Games, one of them is mine. I did it, I did it for the country." (fivepointmove.com, 01 Apr 2020)

US WRESTLING STYLE
Having grown up wrestling in Uzbekistan, he says he has learned new techniques from his US teammates, opponents and coaches. "Here [in the United States of America], if I am wrestling with a guy who has a folk style background or a freestyle background, they have some more tricks and stuff that they use in folk style. Sometimes they use it in Greco and it's helpful. You can use it as a tool to put into the Greco style. In Uzbekistan they don't have folk style at all. They have Greco or freestyle [only]. I am learning from every match." (fivepointmove.com, 06 Sep 2019)