| Birth Place: | Starohnativka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Height: | 187 cm |
| Weight: | 100 kg |
| Sport: | Freestyle wrestling |
| Club: | Kolos Donetsk |
| Alma Mater: | Makiivka Civil Engineering Institute |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Illya Fedorovych Mate (spelled Maté, Russian: Илья Фёдорович Мате|p=ɪˈlʲjæ maˈtɛ, born 6 October 1956) is a retired Soviet and Ukrainian freestyle wrestler. He won gold medals at the 1980 Olympics and 1979 and 1982 world championships, finishing third in 1981.[1] [2] Mate was reputed for his deceitfully flabby appearance, which misled his opponents into thinking of him as of an "easy prey," as well as for his springy sudden movements and the mat generalship, avoiding flukes, and providing no "chinks in the armor" for his opponents.
Mate was born to a Greek father and Ukrainian mother. He began training in kuresh wrestling while studying in a secondary school.
He took up freestyle wrestling in 1970 and won the Soviet heavyweight title in 1978–80 and 1982.
After retiring from competitions he worked as a private entrepreneur in Donetsk, and remained involved with the Donetsk Wrestling Federation. Since 2003, an annual junior freestyle wrestling tournament has been held in Donetsk Oblast in his honor.[1]
|-! style=background:white colspan=7 |International competition record (incomplete)[3] |-! Res.! Opponent! Score! Time! Date! Event! Location|-! style=background:white colspan=7 ||-|Win|align=left| Július Strnisko|style="font-size:88%"|15–3|style="font-size:88%"||style="font-size:88%"|1980-07|rowspan=6 style="text-align:center; font-size:88%"|1980 Summer Olympics|rowspan=6 style="text-align:center; font-size:88%"| Moscow|-|Win|align=left| Tomasz Busse|style="font-size:88%"|9–2|style="font-size:88%"||style="font-size:88%"|1980-07|-|Win|align=left| Slavcho Chervenkov|style="font-size:88%"|6–4|style="font-size:88%"||style="font-size:88%"|1980-07|-|Win|align=left| Antal Bodó|style="font-size:88%"|Tech Fall|style="font-size:88%"|1:41|style="font-size:88%"|1980-07|-|Win|align=left|
Bárbaro Morgan|style="font-size:88%"|Passivity|style="font-size:88%"|7:02|style="font-size:88%"|1980-07|-|Win|align=left|
Santiago Morales|style="font-size:88%"|Tech Fall|style="font-size:88%"|3:42|style="font-size:88%"|1980-07