The best Russian wrestlers. The most titled wrestlers in the world

“Russian means strong!” Cult physical strength I have always been in Russia. It is no coincidence that the main characters folk tales there were stalwart heroes. There are plenty of strongmen in our history.

Kings and governors.

2) Skopin Shuisky


Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky was an invincible commander of the Time of Troubles. He suppressed the Bolotnikov uprising, negotiated with the Swedes, began to reform the Russian army, but was poisoned by the daughter of Malyuta Skuratov due to the political intrigues of Dmitry Shuisky. According to the descriptions of contemporaries, Mikhail Vasilyevich was distinguished by a heroic build. IN historical museum Skopin-Shuisky's broadsword is kept. Heavy weapons, for very strong man.

3) Peter the Great


Peter the Great can safely be called the most powerful Russian Tsar. His height was 204 centimeters, and his physical strength amazed his contemporaries. Peter twisted coins with his fingers, rolled cast-iron frying pans “into a ram’s horn,” and personally checked the suitability of a horseshoe for his horse Lisette, breaking one after another. There is more than one story about the power of Peter the Great folk tale.

4) Alexander III


Russian Emperor Alexander III had outstanding physical strength. From his youth, he did not like social entertainment, preferring horse riding lessons and physical education classes to balls and receptions. The brothers said about him: “Sashka is our Hercules.” The emperor had to use his power in an extraordinary situation.

On October 17, 1888, while returning from the Crimea, the famous crash of the imperial train occurred. The roof of the carriage in which the family of Alexander III was located began to collapse. The emperor took the falling roof onto his shoulders and held it until his wife and children got out alive and unharmed from under the rubble. After rescuing the family, Alexander III did not hesitate and rushed to help other victims.

Wrestlers and strongmen

6) Ivan Poddubny


Everyone knows who Ivan Poddubny is. This is the most famous Russian strongman, weightlifter, and wrestler. Interestingly, Poddubny lost his first fight. This motivated him very much: he set himself a strict training regime, exercised with two-pound weights, a 112-kilogram barbell, gave up tobacco and alcohol, and doused himself cold water. Until the end of his life he carried a cast iron cane with him. He didn't lose again.

Poddubny also conquered America. There he filled the halls, competing according to the rules of American wrestling. He actually fled from the USA, terminating the predatory contract and leaving the fees due to him to the Americans. At the end of his life, Poddubny admitted that the only force that could defeat him was women: “All my life, I, a fool, have been led astray.”

7) Ivan Zaikin

Ivan Zaikin is one of the most famous Russian strongmen. World champion in wrestling, champion in weight lifting, circus performer, one of the first Russian aviators. Foreign newspapers called Zaikin “Chaliapin of Russian muscles.” His athletic performances caused a sensation both in Russia and abroad. In 1908, during a tour in Paris, Zaikin shocked the audience by tearing any chains, bracelets and ties, and bending metal beams. Zaikin carried a 25-pound anchor on his shoulders, lifted a long barbell onto his shoulders, on which ten people sat, and began to rotate it (“a living carousel”).

8) Georg Hackenschmidt

Georg Hackenschmidt was called the “Russian lion” and “the most powerful man of the turn of the century.” He was a world champion in wrestling and a world record holder in weightlifting. Georg has been involved in sports since childhood; to strengthen his legs, he practiced climbing the spiral staircase to the church spire with two-pound weights.

The credit for the fact that Hakk became a wrestler belongs to the “father of Russian athletics” Dr. Kraevsky - he convinced Georg that he could become the strongest in the world. And Kraevsky was not mistaken - Hakk conquered Russia, Europe, and America. Gakk pressed a barbell weighing 122 kg with one hand, and pressed a barbell weighing 145 kg on a wrestling bridge. With his arms crossed on his back, Gaak lifted 86 kg from a deep squat. With a 50-kg barbell, the athlete squatted 50 times. Today this exercise is called the hack squat.

9) Peter Krylov

Pyotr Krylov was a strongman and a permanent winner of competitions for the best athletic figure. Even as a child, he chose his idol - the athlete Emil Foss, who entered the arena in silk tights and leopard skin. Krylov set several world records. In the “wrestling bridge” position, he squeezed 134 kg with both hands, and 114.6 kg with his left hand.

Bench press in a “soldier’s stance”: with his left hand he lifted a two-pound weight 86 times in a row. Krylov was called the “king of weights.” He was the founder of spectacular stunts, which were then repeated by other athletes, and today by paratroopers: bending a rail on the shoulders, driving a car over the body, raising a platform with a horse and rider.

10) Grigory Kashcheev

In this photo with prominent and far from small wrestlers, Grigory Kashcheev stands out with his height - 218 cm and his uniform - a simple blouse. In 1906, Grigory Kashcheev first met world-class wrestlers and became friends with Zaikin, who helped him enter the big arena. Soon Kashcheev defeated all the famous strongmen, and in 1908, together with Poddubny and Zaikin, he conquered Paris at the World Championship. Having started so brilliantly, Kashcheev’s career did not work out - the wrestler became a downshifter, refused the most lucrative offers, abandoned everything and went to his village to plow the land.

11) Alexander Zass


Alexander Zass was called “Iron Samson”. He carried a horse or a piano around the arena with a pianist and dancer located on the lid; caught with his hands a 90-kilogram cannonball, which was fired from a circus cannon from a distance of 8 meters; he lifted a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends from the floor and held it in his teeth. In the famous attraction, Projectile Man, Alexander Zass caught with his hands an assistant flying out of the mouth of a circus cannon and describing a 12-meter trajectory above the arena.

In Sheffield in 1938, he was run over by a truck loaded with coal in front of a crowd. Samson stood up and, smiling, bowed to the audience. Zass was one of the first to introduce isometric exercises into his training system. This allowed him to strengthen his tendons so much that, with his low weight, he managed to set records that have not yet been broken.

12) Ivan Shemyakin

A two-meter giant, Ivan Shemyakin, in his first lesson at an athletic school, was able to push a barbell of only 72 kilograms with both hands, but this did not bother him. He began to train hard. The training brought results: Shemyakin won the competition of the Cycling and Athletic Society in kettlebells and took third prize at the Russian Championship.

In 1908, in St. Petersburg, Shemyakin showed a unique strength act - a metal beam was bent on his shoulder. In 1913, participating in the world championship held at the St. Petersburg Modern Circus, Ivan Shemyakin won famous Ivan Zaikin, and the powerful, angry on the carpet, Nikolai Vakhturov, and took first place. Shemyakin also defeated other world-famous wrestlers, but his meetings with Ivan Poddubny always ended in a draw.

13) Ivan Lebedev


In 1916, Ivan Lebedev (strongmen called him “Uncle Vanya”) published the book “A Guide to How to Develop Your Strength by Exercising with Heavy Kettlebells.” Lebedev not only developed athletics and wrestling in Russia, but was also a renowned strongman himself. He studied with the same luminary of “Russian power” Vladislav Kraevsky. Lebedev published the Hercules magazine and was the first promoter in Russia.

His notes are still interesting today. Regarding the lifestyle, he wrote: “The human body does not tolerate constraint, but any excess is harmful. As for food, I strongly advise against eating meat: it introduces putrefactive decomposition products into your body and forms uric acid, which poisons the body. The basic rule for eating is to chew as slowly as possible. I don't recommend drinking alcohol or smoking at all. Sleep - 7–8 hours. Dress without wrapping yourself up or wearing warm underwear. Fresh air and water (showers or washes) are necessary for every person who wants to be strong and healthy.”

14) Vasily Alekseev


Vasily Alekseev - the last hero Soviet era. “Russian Bear” (as foreign fans called him) became the Champion twice Olympic Games, six times - World Champion, six times - European Champion, held first place at the USSR championships for seven years. During his sports career, Vasily Alekseev set 80 world records and 81 USSR records. He is also the “eternal” holder of the current world record for the sum of three exercises - 645 kg (currently there are no competitions in this discipline).

Vasily Alekseev competed with himself, setting new records at the championships over and over again. It was he who opened the era of the “six hundred men”, being the first to conquer the six hundred kilogram peak. From 1989 to 1992, Alekseev coached the national team and the United Weightlifting Team. During his coaching work, not a single member of the team was injured. One of his loyal fans is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

15) Yuri Vlasov

Another brilliant Soviet weightlifter - " iron Man"Yuri Vlasov. Olympic champion (1960), silver medalist of the Games (1964), 4-time world champion (1959, 1961-1963), 6-time European champion (1959-1964; in non-Olympic years the championships were held as part of the world championships) , 5-time champion of the USSR (1959-1963). Yuri Vlasov set 31 world records and 41 USSR records (1957-1967). Yuri Vlasov was twice the standard-bearer of the USSR delegation at the opening of the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games.

16) Ivan Denisov


Let's move on to modern strongmen. The traditions of kettlebell lifting in Russia are still strong today. One of the strongest kettlebell lifters in the world is a representative of the Chelyabinsk kettlebell school, Ivan Denisov, an international master of sports. Ivan Denisov is a multiple Champion of Russia, Europe and the World, multiple record holder of Russia, Europe and the World. In 2005, at the World Championships in Moscow, Denisov set absolute world records in the clean and jerk of 175 lifts and a combined total of 281 points. Previously, the records belonged to Sergei Mishin and remained unchanged for more than ten years.

17) Alexander Karelin


“San Sanych” Karelin weighed 6.5 kilograms at birth, at the age of 13 he was 178 cm tall and weighed 78 kilograms. Just 4 years after joining the section, Karelin became the world champion among youth. During his sports career, the wrestler collected all kinds of titles, won 887 fights, and lost only twice. He won Olympic gold three times, became world champion 9 times, European champion 12 times, and gold at the championships of the USSR, CIS and Russia 13 times.

Alexander Karelin was awarded the “Golden Belt” four times as the best wrestler on the planet. On February 20, 1999, Karelin had a duel with Japanese fighter Akira Maeda. The “Russian Bear” used only the arsenal of his native Greco-Roman wrestling in the ring. Maeda managed to land a few kicks at the beginning of the fight, but within a minute he turned into a training dummy for practicing throws.

18) Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko, " the last Emperor", remained undefeated for almost ten years, which is unprecedented in the history of MMA. Emelianenko is a four-time world champion in MMA heavyweight according to Pride FC, two-time according to RINGS, two-time according to WAMMA, four-time world champion and seven-time champion of Russia in combat sambo. Honored Master of Sports in Sambo and International Master of Sports in Judo. This summer, the “last emperor” returned to sports. On December 31st we will cheer for him at a tournament in Japan.

Writers

A year before his death, in 1909, when Tolstoy was 82 years old, in a playful argument he defeated all the guests in “arm wrestling.” Tolstoy, who became one of the first fighters for sobriety and healthy image life, said: “For me, the daily movement of bodily work is necessary, like air. With assiduous mental work without movement and bodily labor, there is real grief.”

20) Vladimir Gilyarovsky

Another Russian strongman from literature is Vladimir Gilyarovsky. At sixteen he ran away from home. Having walked two hundred kilometers from Vologda to Yaroslavl, he hired himself into the burlatsk artel. At first, the barge haulers doubted whether to take the boy, but Gilyai had amazing physical strength, pulled a nickel out of his pocket and easily rolled it into a tube. Mikhail Chekhov recalled the first visit of “Uncle Gilay” to Chekhov’s house: “He immediately became familiar with us, invited us to feel his iron muscles in his arms, rolled a penny into a tube, and screwed a teaspoon.”

The name of Ivan Vladimirovich Lebedev (“Uncle Vanya”) is associated with professional wrestling in the circus and with the popularization of athletic sports in Russia. A student of Dr. Kraevsky, Lebedev was a first-class athlete, but became widely known as the organizer of the French wrestling championships and the editor-in-chief of the sports magazine "Hercules", author popular books in athletics "Strength and Health", "Weightlifting", "History of Professional French Wrestling".

From the book by Ivan Lebedev:
Regarding the lifestyle: “the human body does not tolerate constraint, but any excess is harmful.” As for food, I strongly advise against eating meat: it introduces putrefactive decomposition products into your body and forms uric acid, which poisons the body. The basic rule for eating is to chew as slowly as possible. I don't recommend drinking alcohol or smoking at all. Sleep - 7-8 hours. Dress without wrapping yourself up or wearing warm underwear. Fresh air and water (showers or washes) are necessary for every person who wants to be strong and healthy.

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was born in 1871, died in 1949. Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Master of Sports, World Champion. In forty years of performances, he has not lost a single (!) match.

World champion in classical wrestling Ivan Poddubny (sitting in the center) with his brothers

It was in Taganrog...
In the summer of 1902, a huge crowd gathered on the sidewalk of Petrovskaya Street between the Petersburg and European hotels. The sounds of a fight and isolated shouts were heard. Some were screaming; “What are you looking at, hit him,” others: “You can’t kill a person.” In the middle of the circle formed by onlookers, they sorted things out with their fists and the techniques of French wrestling, which were given to the cities circus performances Ivan Poddubny, Mikhailov and the Turk Mugomet-Kara-Mustafa-Ishara. The police detained the fighters and sent them to the station to draw up a report, except... Poddubny, who did not give in and, having awarded Andersen’s (Zagorsky) wife with a strong blow, disappeared.

A week later, Poddubny laid Andersen on his shoulder blades on the arena carpet. The newspaper Taganrogsky Vestnik reported about this fight on July 6, 1902.

“Misunderstandings between Andersen and Poddubny arose on the basis of personal relationships and were transferred to the circus arena. During the fight on the first of July, Poddubny, contrary to the rules of the game, grabbed Andersen by the throat and began to choke, but Andersen twisted out, after which the experts appointed a break, during which Andersen declared to the public and Mr. Police Chief present at the meeting that Ivan Poddubny was resorting to unauthorized methods.

After the break the fight resumed. Poddubny finally brought Andersen to his knees and, grabbing him by the throat, with enraged eyes, began to choke him with both hands and press him against the barrier. Here the crowd rushed into the arena and barely took Poddubny away from his victim.

Experts showed that the fight was conducted incorrectly and police chief S.N. Japaridze immediately forbade Ivan Poddubny from fighting in Taganrog from now on.”

In wrestling circles, a legend is told about how in 1905 in Paris, after graduation Russo-Japanese War, Poddubny came into conflict with who was in France at that time Japanese master hand-to-hand combat. The Japanese offered to sort things out in a fight, to which Poddubny agreed. Poddubny’s Japanese opponent said through an interpreter that in honor of his country’s victory over Russia he would spare the life of his opponent, after which the fight began. Possessing high level fighting techniques, the Japanese easily coped with all the attacks of Poddubny, who could only rely on wrestling techniques and his colossal physical strength. However, at that moment, when it seemed that nothing would help the Russian wrestler cope with an opponent unusual for him, an unexpected thing happened - the Japanese evaded another takeover attempt, but Poddubny managed to grab the edge of the fluttering kimono with his hand. After that, Poddubny grabbed the Japanese and broke his femur through the knee.

Portrait of the athlete V. Lebedev

Two wrestlers fight using the Lebedev method

A group of championship participants watches the fight between two wrestlers

Moment of fight in the ring. On the left is Muhanara, on the right is N. Pospeshil

Portrait of championship participant Asman

At the Wrestling School, wrestlers fight using the Lebedev method

Wrestlers performing on the theater stage

Razumov Championship participant

Board with photographs of the organizers and participants of the competition

Wrestler N. Pospeshil demonstrates the technique of grabbing a person, on the right is wrestler Muhanara

Portrait of a wrestler, world record holder, championship participant A. Neyland

Portrait of championship participant Borichenko

Portrait of championship participant Borzov

Portrait of a wrestler, participant of the Sonder championship

A group of athletes from the cycling and athletic society

Lessons from French wrestling

Portrait of the world champion in classical wrestling G. Lurich

Lurich was born in 1876 in the village of Väike-Maarja, Viru district, Estonia province. Fifteen-year-old Lurich argued that if he took a two-pound dumbbell in each hand, lifting them simultaneously, he would squeeze at least 3,000 times without stopping. The boy was flushed, his hair darkened from sweat, but he also squeezed the dumbbells 4000 times!

Some of Lurich's achievements in weightlifting exercises exceeded world records. He soon becomes a professional athlete and wrestler. Wins the title of champion in French wrestling, sets several world records in weight lifting. 1896 - 1897 first brought him the title of “first wrestler of Russia”, “Athlete - Champion of Russia”, then “World Champion in lifting weights with one hand”. Over the course of 10 years, his height increased from 150 cm to 177 cm, his weight from 50 kg to 90 kilograms. In 1910, Lurich had 20 records. The most interesting record is in the “delivery”: Lurich raised right hand a barbell weighing 105 kg and, holding it at the top, took a 34 kg weight from the floor and also lifted it up. The most famous circus tricks are stretching with two camels and holding five people on an upraised arm. Georg Lurich demonstrated his skills in many countries and enjoyed enormous popularity everywhere. Athletic clubs named after Lurich were founded in some European cities.

In the fall of 1912, he went on tour to America, got acquainted with Free American wrestling and won victories over famous wrestlers Rogers and Zbyshko-Tsyganevich. In London in 1904, an exhibition match between Lurich and the German Siegfried was filmed. In 1908, a match between Lurich and the Turk Kara Mustafa was filmed in St. Petersburg.

Ivan Mikhailovich was considered a student of Ivan Poddubny. Many strong wrestlers, having met this champion of champions - Poddubny, then avoided this “pleasure”. The wrestler Zaikin met with Ivan Maksimovich on the mat 15 times, from Voronezh in 1904 to Tiflis in 1916. Poddubny, as you know, taught according to simple method: “For one beaten, they give two unbeaten.”

Their contractions took place differently. In Orel on February 7, 1905, it was described as follows: “... Poddubny fought with Zaikny in Swiss wrestling (“on belts”). Poddubny picked up Zaikin, took him “to the mill” and threw him onto his shoulder blades. This was their first fight."

At the 1908 World Championships in Paris, Zaikin and Poddubny, having victoriously defeated their rivals, relegating them to the background, met in the final fight. It lasted 66 minutes. After such a grueling fight, Poddubny came forward.

It just so happens that, since time immemorial, man has always struggled. With friends - as a joke, with enemies - to death, with rivals - for love and glory. It happens with yourself, but that's a different story. IN Ancient Greece And Ancient Rome the struggle has acquired the status spectacular view sports, and the wrestlers themselves were highly respected people in society. It was from there that Greco-Roman wrestling arose, which has survived even to this day. Judo, sumo, Slavic style and many varieties and trends of wrestling art still occupy certain niches in the culture and traditions of their countries.

England became the founder of freestyle wrestling. At first, rather strict rules with techniques and grabs, after which the loser in the fight could be carried to the graveyard, over the years they “ennobled”, acquiring a civilized appearance. Being part of the Olympic sports, freestyle wrestling has become one of the most spectacular and popular competitions with a vast army of fans around the world.

It goes without saying that here, like everywhere else, there are champions - record holders for the number of titles won. It so happened that the most famous wrestler was Alexander Medved, a Soviet freestyle wrestler who won the world championships seven times and won the Olympics three times.

Chechen athlete Buvaysar Saitiev is only slightly behind Medved. He is also a 3-time Olympic winner, but came first at the World Championships six times.

Russians Sergei Beloglazov (left) and Arsen Fadzaev (right) each stood on the first step of the podium at the World Championships six times and twice at Olympic competitions.

But for the women, the winners' wreath is firmly held by representatives of Japan: Saori Yoshida (left) - 11-time world champion and 3-time Olympic champion, as well as Kaori Ite (right) - 8-time world champion and 3-time Olympic champion. As you can see, the “weaker sex” has even better results than men. Well, that’s why he’s weak!

There has always been a cult of physical strength in Russia, and it is not for nothing that they say: “Russian means strong!”

1. The most powerful governor: Evpatiy Kolovrat

Evpatiy Kolovrat, despite the epic aura, is a historical figure. He was born in the village of Frolovo, Shilovsky volost. According to the “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” Evpatiy Kolovrat learned about the Mongol invasion of the Ryazan principality and with a small detachment moved to the rescue, but found the city already devastated. “...the sovereigns were killed and many people were killed: some were killed and flogged, others were burned, and others were drowned.” Having overtaken the Mongols already in the Suzdal lands, Evpatiy Kolovrat’s squad killed the Mongol-Tatar rearguard. “And Evpatiy beat them so mercilessly that their swords became dull, and he took Tatar swords and cut them with them.”

Batu sent his best warrior Khostovrul against Kolovrat, but Evpatiy defeated the Tatar hero in a fight, cutting him to the saddle. Despite the huge numerical superiority, the Tatars could not defeat Kolovrat’s squad until they came up with the idea of ​​​​using stone siege weapons against them. In tribute to the Russian warrior, Batu gave the body of the murdered Evpatiy Kolovrat to the remnants of his squad and ordered them to be released in peace. Case for history Ancient Rus' extraordinary.

2. The most powerful king: Peter the Great.

Peter the Great can hardly be called a simple tsar. Among the Russian autocrats, he stood out for his physical stature (height 204 cm) and his love for manual labor (he mastered 14 craft specialties, was one of the best shipbuilders not only in Russia, but also in Europe, and personally operated tools). The irrepressible energy of the Russian emperor amazed his contemporaries. Peter twisted coins with his fingers and rolled cast-iron frying pans “into a ram’s horn.” Returning from the Great Embassy in 1698, near Riga, he bought a horse, which later received the name Lisette, and decided to reforge it. The king tested the strength of the horseshoe in his own way. If he can twist it, it’s a bad horseshoe. If she can’t, she’s good. The blacksmith remade the work several times. Finally, Peter was satisfied with the quality, he gave the blacksmith copper nickel. The blacksmith also turned out to be not so simple. Twisting the nickel with his fingers, he said that he was not satisfied with the quality of the coin. So the blacksmith reached the “golden price”. The people even created a fairy tale about this episode from the life of the king.

3. Winner of bulls and bears: Grigory Rusakov

Frontier XIX-XX centuries has been surprisingly prolific in strongmen. One of them was Kursk resident Grigory Rusakov, born in 1879 into the family of a simple peasant. As a wrestler, Rusakov performed in 1909 in the Donbass, where he worked in a mine. Rusakov quickly became a local champion and received an invitation to work in the Moscow circus. So he became a professional wrestler. Fortunately, the parameters allowed - two-meter height and 150 kilograms of weight. Having gained popularity in the capitals, Grigory Rusakov began touring throughout Russia, and then around the world - he won world championships in Argentina (1913) and Paris (1915).

Rusakov, like other famous wrestlers, was personally exempted from military service by Nicholas II, but the 1917 revolution cut short the wrestler’s professional career. According to some sources, he lived quietly and peacefully in the Kursk province in the settlement of Mikhailovka, according to others, he earned his living in Murmansk, competing in the fight against local strongmen. Not everything was smooth in Rusakov's life. He was prosecuted three times in 1929, 1938, 1944.

For example, the following incident remains in history: once Rusakov was training at a mill, throwing sacks of grain. The grain spilled and Rusakov was sentenced to three years, but he was released after two - at the request of Ivan Poddubny. Rusakov was also known for repeatedly engaging in exhibition fights with bears, bending horseshoes and rails, and once in London defeating a bull in a fight. Grigory Fomich died in an absurd way: he fell from a truck when he wanted to break a tree branch hanging over the truck while moving. The fall left him paralyzed. A year later he died.

4. Invincible: Ivan Poddubny

Oddly enough, the sports career of the invincible Poddubny began with defeat. He worked as a loader at the port, then he decided to try his hand at wrestling in the circus of Ivan Beskoravainy. Ivan lost his first fight. From that time on, he set himself a strict training regimen, exercised with two-pound weights, a 112-kilogram barbell, gave up tobacco and alcohol, and doused himself with cold water. Until the end of his life he carried a cast iron cane with him. He soon became one of the most famous wrestlers not only in Russia, but also in Europe.

His main opponent was the Frenchman Raoul de Boucher. They met three times. Despite the dirty methods that the Frenchman practiced, Poddubny not only defeated him, but also gave the cunning Frenchman 20 minutes of shame in St. Petersburg, holding him in an iron grip. An eyewitness to this fight described what he saw as follows: “By the end of the fight, it was a pity to look at Pons: his bloomers came down, as if he had suddenly lost twenty centimeters at the waist, his T-shirt rode up, crumpled and turned into a rag that you wanted to squeeze out.”

Poddubny also conquered America. There he filled the halls, competing according to the rules of American wrestling. He actually fled from the USA, terminating the predatory contract and leaving the fees due to him to the Americans. He himself said more than once: “I am a Russian wrestler.” And the strong man Poddubny had a sad relationship with the “weaker sex.” He admitted that the only force that could defeat him was women: “All my life, I, a fool, have been led astray.”

5. "Iron Samson": Alexander Zass

Alexander Zass remained in history as “Iron Samson”. Fame came to him during the First World War. He escaped from Austrian captivity, carrying a wounded horse from the battlefield. He found his destiny in the Hungarian circus, he designed acts himself, carried a horse or a piano around the arena with a pianist and dancer sitting on the lid; caught with his hands a 90-kilogram cannonball, which was fired from a circus cannon from a distance of 8 meters; he tore a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends from the floor and held it in his teeth; having threaded the shin of one leg into the loop of a rope fixed under the very dome, he held the platform with the piano and pianist in his teeth; Lying with his bare back on a board with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which they hit with sledgehammers.

"Samson" toured a lot. He was with his performances in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, England, Ireland. Since 1924, Zass lived permanently in England, where he was awarded the title “The Strongest Man on Earth.” In 1925, the book “The Amazing Samson” was published in London. Told by himself." One of Zass’s merits can be considered the system of isometric exercises he developed aimed at strengthening tendons. Such training allowed him, despite his rather modest dimensions for a strongman, to withstand enormous loads. Unfortunately, in the USSR, until the 80s, practically nothing was known about him - “Samson” was considered “alien” to the Soviet system. Alexander Zass died in 1962. He was buried near London in the small town of Hockley, where his home was.

6. “Russian Bear”: Vasily Alekseev

Vasily Alekseev can be called the last hero of the Soviet era. He was born in 1942, and since 1966 he has lived almost constantly in the Rostov city of Shakhty. Despite world fame, Alekseev led a modest life, devoting himself entirely to his favorite activity - weightlifting.

The “Russian Bear” (as foreign fans nicknamed him) became the Olympic Champion twice, the World Champion six times, the European Champion six times, and held first place at the USSR championships for seven years. During his sports career, Vasily Alekseev set 80 world records and 81 USSR records. He is also the “eternal” holder of the current world record for the sum of three exercises - 645 kg (currently there are no competitions in this discipline).

Vasily Alekseev competed with himself, setting new records at the championships over and over again. It was he who opened the era of the “six hundred men”, being the first to conquer the six hundred kilogram peak. From 1989 to 1992, Alekseev coached the national team and the United Weightlifting Team. During his coaching work, not a single member of the team was injured. His training system can be called revolutionary. He criticized lifting extreme weights in training, trying to emphasize strength endurance and combining types of training.

So, he liked to take a barbell and go to barbecues, trained in the breaks between swimming and rest, lifted the barbell in the water, and often worked out on fresh air. Vasily Alekseev died on November 25, 2011 in Munich at the age of 69. One of his loyal fans is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

7. "San Sanych": Alexander Karelin

If you ask anyone, even someone far from sports, to name a famous Russian wrestler, the name of Alexander Karelin will come up. And this despite the fact that he left big sport 15 years ago, in 2000. At birth, “San Sanych” weighed 6.5 kilograms, at the age of 13 he was 178 cm tall and weighed 78 kilograms. At 14, he enrolled in the Greco-Roman wrestling section in his native Novosibirsk.

The first coach, Viktor Kuznetsov, remained Karelin’s mentor throughout his entire sports career. 4 years after joining the section, Karelin already became the world champion among youth. During his sports career, the wrestler collected all kinds of titles, won 887 fights, and lost only twice. He won Olympic gold three times, became world champion 9 times, European champion 12 times, and gold at the championships of the USSR, CIS and Russia 13 times. Alexander Karelin was awarded the “Golden Belt” four times as the best wrestler on the planet.

In 1999, the popular Japanese fighter Akira Maeda, who was considered invincible in his homeland, decided to end his career by organizing bright show and challenged Alexander Karelin. The Russian wrestler had to be persuaded for a long time, but in the end he agreed - sports ambition played a role. The fight took place on February 20, 1999. Karelin used only the arsenal of his native Greco-Roman wrestling in the ring. Maeda managed to land a few kicks at the beginning of the fight, but within a minute he turned into a training dummy for practicing throws. The Japanese wrestler’s “swan song” did not go well.