It had been a really long time since I had seen my old friend from Moscow, Oleg Menshikov. In this world championship, his boxer, Sergey Vodopyanov, won the gold medal in the 119 lb category. This will be the second Olympic Games for my friend, Oleg.

With Georgy Balakshin and N. Chromov who was a former Head Coach of the Russian National Boxing Team and was voted "Outstanding Boxing Coach of Russia."With Georgy Balakshin and N. Chromov who was a former Head Coach of the Russian National Boxing Team and was voted "Outstanding Boxing Coach of Russia."

The first time I met Georgy Balakshin was in 1997 in the European Under-19 Championships in Birmingham, England where I was the Head Coach of the Israeli National Boxing Team. Balakshin won the gold. One year later, we met again in the Under-19 World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he won the silver. The judges robbed him in the final. After this, I only saw him in the Olympics on TV. We met again in Chicago. He lost in the quarter final to Raushee Warren from Team USA.

Warren is, in my opinion, currently the most outstanding boxer of the world. Raushee Warren, 112 lb gold medalist, and another Team USA member, 152 lb Demetrius Andrade, both won gold medals in Chicago. They showed the world how America is still rich with talented boxers.