Meet the referee with the Golden Whistle
Wrestling has given me the opportunity to see the world and what it holds
Charles Villet, who is the Senior Vice President of the South African Wrestling Federation has achieved it all at various levels and stages in his wrestling career.
Charles started his wrestling journey in 1973, and has never looked back. He is celebrating 47 years in wrestling and has accomplished it all. He has received his Transvaal colours, SA colours, and Protea colours in wrestling, and was selected as an assistant Instructor for the United World Wrestling (UWW). After a long time as a wrestler and achieving all his heart desired, Charles switched to a different field and became a wrestling referee. “A person needs to want it, and work hard for what he wants. He needs to take every part as it comes, even if you win or lose,” he stated.
Some of his highest achievements and biggest honours were to take part in the Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro as one of the referees, also when he was selected as the first official referee after isolation, and had the opportunity to return to the Olympics and handle the match in 2017 between two Olympic wrestlers from the USA and Russia. “My biggest honour came in 2019 when I was named the World’s Best Referee for 2019 and was awarded with the Golden Whistle. I don’t think there is a bigger honour to receive and achieve,” Charles explained.
Currently, he is an Educator for the UWW, and still lives out the Best Referee career. From travelling the world and seeing the new and old talents in wrestling, Charles still loves it all. He will be refereeing at the African Championships in Algeria, and at the end of February he will be off to Morocco for the Olympic Games qualification round and then to the next qualification round in Tokyo.
He explained that in almost five decades of this journey, wrestling has taught him the importance of respect, and that it helped him a lot in life to build his self-confidence. “Wrestling has given me the opportunity to see the world and what it holds. Any person can reach the highest highs if you only believe in yourself,” he concluded.
