Ercegan Steps Down After 30 Years As FILA President
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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
09/19/2002
Moscow, Russia - Milan Ercegan officially resigned as President of FILA, the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles, on Thursday, Sep. 19. Ercegan cited numerous reasons for his resignation, which was originally announced on June 22. "Due to reasons of health and family circumstances, I will not nominate myself for FILA President," stated Ercegan, who had served as FILA's President for 30 years. "I worked for a very long time to develop wrestling. Over this period, hundreds of new sports have developed, but we have continued to thrive." Ercegan made the announcement at the FILA Congress, held Thursday morning in Moscow. In his 30 years as the FILA President, Ercegan accomplished many goals and continued to move the sport of amateur wrestling forward and to new levels during his reign. After being elected as FILA President in 1972, Ercegan helped to organize the first World Cup, which was held in Toledo, Ohio in 1973. He also helped to develop women's wrestling, which will be recognized as an Olympic sport at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Ercegan has also written three books about the history of wrestling and turned a FILA debt of 40,000 Swiss Franks to 15 million Swiss Franks in a FILA account. Ercegan served 16 years as the Secretary of FILA from 1956-1972 before being elected as the fifth President in the organization's history. After saying goodbye to the entire wrestling delegates, Ercegan was named as an Honorary President of FILA for life by newly-elected President Raphael Martinetti.