1. Hi Marcin, first of all please tell us what is your current relation with Mazurenko and WAF, I know you are working with both.
Hey. For this moment my situation is still the same like last years – I’m working for Mazurenko Armwrestling Promotion Ltd, PAL USA and WAC Inc. Additionally I’m the Technical Director in FAP (Polish Federation), EAF and WAF. As You know – we can not call it “work” because we are elected or selected in Federations and this cooperation is not a kind of “contract”. Additionally since few years I’m cooperating with Sweden Federation to assist them in some organisation points during the events. So for this moment I’m involved into 7 armwrestling organisations.
2. Could you tell us if the relation between Igor Mazurenko and WAF Directorate has improved ?
Yes. The relation between Igor and WAF Directorate has improved. For this moment I can say only that. Official information will be released at armpower.net soon.
3. What was your role at WorldArm 2015: 37th World Armwrestling Championships 2015 (WAF) ?
Since last European Championships in Bulgaria my duties in EAF and WAF are different than before. As all of you know, I was involved in almost all point of the event organisation – from registrations, weight-ins up to technical aspects of the event. It was a lot of duties to keep 2 positions – Director of Scoring and Technical Director at the same time. Few years ago WAF decided to add one person to our team – Mr Florin Lazar and to give him position of Scoring Director in WAF. He was present at few events to see what we are doing and how we are doing that. For now he is official Director of Scoring. My duties at Worlds 2015 was to keep the technical level of the event as high as we can. I have more time to take a look at the stage, lights, sound and screens right now. I can react for any issues and prepare all the details that You can see at the venue. Additionally for last few years I’m working with TV production in PAL and WAC so I’m prepared to arrange and setup live satellite broadcast from Worlds. This time we made it for internet only.
4. Please tell us about Zloty Tur 2015 World Cup, armwrestlers want details about this amazing competition.
This year we have 2 main changes for this event. First one is location change. For last years Zloty Tur Cup was held in Warsaw – except one year when we moved it to Sopot. This time Zloty Tur Cup is moved to Rumia City. Rumia is located at the northern part of Poland – close to Gdansk (~30km) and Gdynia (~10km). We have there a great city support, really nice venue and hotel so we decided to move it here – closer to our office. Second change is the event name. As you know – Zloty Tur 2014 was cancelled in the last minute because of the Ukrainian situation. This year we are coming back to the original event name – I think the most popular name – Zloty Tur World Cup.
Last organisation difference is in weight classes – we decided to add one class for ladies – 57kg. For this moment ladies can fight in classes: 52kg, 57kg, 65kg and +65kg. The weight difference between 52kg and 65kg was “too crushing” as Igor Mazurenko said.
Here (at Zloty Tur) I’m responsible for coordination of technical groups, TV and Internet broadcast, scoring software etc. I can say – there is 3-4 persons involved into this event and coordinating all teams during the event. In total there will be about 100 people working.
5. What can you tell us about Zloty Tur 2016 ? I heard that it will take place in USA. Is this true ?
For 2016 my calendar is starting to be overloaded right now. In 2015 year I made over 20 armwrestling events all over the world. I spent about a week in the planes and made thousands of km by car. That means I made 2 events every single month. In 2016 it’s going to be insane – there should be more that 6 events in USA made by WAC Inc., more that 10 in Europe and probably additional few regular events all over the world. Zloty Tur World Cup 2016 – American Edition … I can not say anything more about it. Let us made this year event and then we can start planning next year. I will let you know if there will be some details about it.
6. Armfight #44 was great, thanks for the free live stream. Tell us more about the behind the scenes. When it will be aired on CBS Sports ?
Thank You! It was my idea to show this event live and for free for all of you and Igor accepted that. And to be honest – it was really difficult to made it real because of the technical problems with that stream for about 20 minutes before the event started. But we made it and this is important.
About our streaming and video footage that You saw live. I received some comments about breaks, repeats, black-outs, conversations etc. First of all – it was raw video streamed without breaks. This event was produced for CBS Sports Network and main goal was to produce 3 shows for them. That’s why at the beginning You saw 3 times intro and welcome from MC. Additionally between fights there were some breaks to prepare the TV crew for next fight and next episode for CBS. Additionally there was some unexpected supprise from Fremont Street Experience. Every full hour they have their own show at the roof screen for about 10 minutes (with video and sound). This show (especially the sound) was destroying our production so we decide to make a breaks every time they started their animations. In the return – Fremont Street Experience was waiting for us to finish part of our event. So I can say that You saw the live streaming of the event production, like a backstage video. I think this kind of broadcast is even better than the regular one because it allows to be a part of the event organisation.
7. Armfight #45 with Tim Bresnan vs. Alexey Voevoda and Michael Todd vs. Andrey Pushkar already sounds amazing. Give us some details please.
This event is planned for January 2016 in Atlantic City. We are going to make 4 fights but only 2 of them are set for now. For some reasons Alexey Voevoda was not able to be a part of Armfight #44 and WAC Inc. was not able to show this event all over the world so we decide to move this fight to January 2016. We are changing place from Vegas to Atlantic City too. Why? Because of the organisation purposes. Andrey Pushkar is really strong right now. He said to me, that probably he will finish his armwrestling episode because there is no opponents for him (he was joking that moment I hope). So – fight with other “strongest” armwrestler in the World will be verry interesting. As you know – Pushkar lost 0:6 with Michael Todd in 2012 so it’s time to Vendetta. Who will win? We will see there. Bresnan and Voevoda will be really interesting. Voevoda will came back after a long break and Bresnan won his last Armfights so he is waiting for next great fight. I can not predict the result because I didn’t meet Voevoda for a long time.
8. What are your plans for the future in armwrestling / personal life ?
In Armwrestling life… what can I plan. I made the biggest armwrestling World Championships ever (as the organizer) in 2013 in Poland. I was present at all Armfights events since Armfight #9 (2005) and all European Championships since 2004. I made by myself one of the biggest sites about armwrestling (armpower.net) and it’s still working since 2003. I received the biggest award in Armwrestling world – John Miazdzyk Award – in 2013 so my name is at the list of 6 greatest names in Armwrestling world (list bellow). It was the greatest moment in my armwrestling life to see my name together with Dave Devoto and others.
LIST OF WORLD LAUREATES
Awards given out by World Armwrestling Federation (WAF)
2013 – Marcin Mielniczuk, Poland
2002 – Harri and Vuokku Naskali, Finland
2001 – Dave Devoto, USA
1996 – Humberto Panzetti, Brazil
1995 – Steve Stanaway, USA
1993 – Roberto Pareja, Brazil
In my personal life I found my new hobby 2 years ago. I’m active player of AirSoft games. This is some kind of sport (let’s say similar to paintball – but I hate this comparison). We started official organisation with my friends here in Poland. With my experience and their enthusiasm we would like to organize some ASG championships – in Poland for the beginning. Maybe in the future we will grow like armwrestling and You will see my name in other sport.
