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In Greece, his name probably doesn’t say much to many people, but in America he was very popular. Of course the Stefanos Miltsakakis It belonged to those cases in which its presentation exceeds the reputation of its name. Because as soon as you see it, it will immediately remind you of a familiar face.
And indeed it was. Specifically, he was her opponent. Jean Claude Van Damme At the cinema. It was the evil Russian who “fought” in 5 movies with the French star. However, the “Russian” or “Eastern European” cinematographic was Greek and specifically by Evros. But few people knew the Greek giant, the “miracle of nature” – as they called it – until his death a year and a half ago.
The difficult early years in America
It was in 1972 that the Miltsakaki family took the road abroad in search of a better life. Her father was a tailor and 12-year-old Stefanos from the small town of Provatona in Evros – which didn’t even have cars on the streets – found herself in front of a big city with skyscrapers, cars and rhythms completely different from what she had learned.
His family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and for the first time shared the same small apartment in a poor neighborhood, along with another family of immigrants from Greece. The first few years were difficult and the fact that he did not know English made it more difficult. After all, he himself had admitted in an interview how difficult it was to adjust to the new reality.
And things got worse when school started. There he experienced absolute racism, as the son of immigrants. He made efforts to blend into the new environment, but never told his family what he was going through. He experienced the devaluation of diversity on his own.
Little Stefanos was involved in sports, which he liked very much. In the last grade of high school he was savagely attacked by his classmates and such were the blows that he had to be hospitalized for days to recover from his injuries. This story was for him a life lesson, which played a decisive role in his later life.
And somewhere the martial arts enter his life. In addition, he was the right stature: tall and stocky, he soon distinguished himself as a fighter and became a world champion in “Pagration”, which combines wrestling with boxing. Now he is the well-known Greek and his successes are sounding in the press. He becomes popular at school and loved by his peers. Things had changed for him.
The wrestling coach at his school suggested he take up the sport. He became a member of the school team and his classmates somewhere stopped seeing him as a “foreigner”.
Of this particular sport he was nicknamed in America, “Stefanos Pagration”. Growing up, Stefanos was a kind-hearted and always kind “giant”, but he defied danger and pain. So after all, his own people remember him.
The Olympics and the ugly game of fate
They say that when man makes plans, God laughs. Did the same apply in the case of Stefanos Miltsakakis? The Evros immigrant focused on training and as he grew up he became an athlete with amazing performance and many accolades in the USA.
In 1984 he returned to his homeland, Athens, to train with the Olympic Wrestling Team. They say that at that time they considered him one of the great favorites for their medal Olympic Games. However, his fate played a bad game. During training he suffered a cruciate ligament tear, so he could not continue the rest of the mission. And the Olympic Games dream of ending awkwardly and ignominiously.
But maybe life had other plans for him, judging by what awaited him a little further down. Stefanos Miltsakakis soon after moved from North Carolina to South Carolina. There, due to his physical qualifications and skills in martial arts, the offer to act in the cinema arose. And it paved the way for an action movie career that focused on street fights and “cages.”
Van Damme’s opponent
It was in 1989 when he met Jean-Claude Van Damme in the movie “Cyborg”. For the next two years, he starred in “Shooters” and “Weekend at Bernie’s,” a comedy that “breaks” funds and helps him become known in the United States.
And somewhere he decides to move to Los Angeles and try his luck in his wonderful world. Hollywood. Of course, no one said it was easy there and they were waiting for you on the road paved with rose petals. But he himself was a fighter and did not give up. Perhaps it was his ignorance of how difficult it is to become an actor and establish himself in the field, as he himself had confessed.
With his presentation reminiscent of an Eastern European, the producers found in his face the ideal “bad” Russian, at a time when in action films the case of the “good American versus the bad American of the Soviet Union played a lot. “. You see, it was the Cold War that imposed such forms of expression.
But it wasn’t just his appearance that convinced the producers. It was his physique that got Van Damme excited to rival him in the movies. Rather, beating the “giant” Stefanos in the end gave his victories greater dimensions.
However, he did not like this confinement in this role. And he quickly realized that he no longer wanted to play bad guy. So he decided to quit. And dedicate himself to what he knew very well, in “Pagration”.
Martial Arts
Even in his short film career, he did not stop practicing martial arts. He competed in “cages” as he was trained in other arts such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA.
As he once said: “Fighting is part of my life. Since I was little I have fought to survive in a world full of violence. What if I am afraid when I fight in cages? Yes, I am afraid. But what I mean by fear. it is different from what everyone wants to say. For me fear is like an alarm system that prepares me for battle, it is a powerful energy that gives me life. “
In recent years he has maintained a large gym in California, which was visited by many movie celebrities. Stefanos Miltsakakis died in January 2019 at the age of 60.
His wish was to be buried in his village of Evros, alongside his father. How it happened.
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