Russian wrestlers - history in photographs. "A man of great strength and stupidity." The true story of Ivan Poddubny
The greatest Russian wrestler who did not know defeat.
A hero who defeated the strongest wrestlers of all continents in fifty cities in fourteen countries of the world.
For 40 years of performances, he has not lost a single championship (he had defeats only in separate fights). He received world recognition as a "champion of champions", "Russian hero".
Abroad, the name of I. Poddubny is a Russian brand. Like red caviar, vodka, Cossack choir.
He settled in Yeysk in 1927 and lived here for 22 years.
Eysk Ivan Maksimovich chose not by chance. Many ancestors of Poddubny lived in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, who moved in the second half of the 18th century from the Zaporizhzhya Sich. And now, in Yeysk and its region, the surname Poddubny is quite common.
He died at the age of 78 in 1949. He was buried in our city, in the park that bears his name.
Ivan Poddubny was born on September 26 (October 8), 1871 in Ukraine, in the village of Krasenovka (now Cherkasy region), into a peasant family. Father, Maxim Ivanovich, had a small farm. The family was large - seven children: 4 sons and 3 daughters. Ivan was the eldest. He helped with the housework from the age of seven: she grazed geese, cows, carried grain on oxen. 
From the age of 13 he worked as a laborer for a pan in his native Krasenovka, then for a landowner in the neighboring Bogodukhovka. He was not taken into the army as the eldest son. For ten years, Ivan bent his back on the local rich in native land. In 1892, as he himself writes in his autobiography, "he no longer wanted to live in the countryside and left to work." Worked as a port loader- first a year in Odessa, and then two years in Sevastopol. 20-year-old I. Poddubny, who was distinguished by enviable physical data, immediately attracted the attention of the owners of the Livas unloading company, where he worked. When in 1895 the company moved to Feodosia, Ivan was appointed senior worker at the office. He no longer dragged many-pound sacks of wheat into the holds of foreign ships for 14 hours. Appeared free time, met two students of nautical classes, settled with them in the same apartment.
Anton Preobrazhensky and Vasily Vasilyev got Poddubny into sports in six months. And when in 1896 a circus arrived in the city with a professional wrestling championship, Poddubny decided to test himself both in weight lifting and in Russian-Swiss belt wrestling. In the first weightlifting competition, he lost. But in the fight he won all the participants of the championship. Belt wrestling was popular in his native Krasenovka (known in Rus' since the 13th century). The end of the 19th century in the history of wrestling is marked by an unusually large enthusiasm for French wrestling in Russia and abroad. The term "wrestling mania" even appeared, meaning a craze for wrestling. The audience was amazed at the strength and technical dexterity of an unknown, seemingly muzhik-clumsy, strongly built kid. The victorious debut was unexpected for Poddubny himself. Ivan for the first time felt the taste of success, the taste of glory.
In January 1897, he left to wrestle in Sevastopol, went to the championship parade in the circus of the Italian Enrico Truzzi as a professional wrestler. He is in his 27th year. Seems like a late start. However, perseverance and perseverance led him to the glory of the strongest wrestler. Three years later (1900) he moved to Kyiv and entered into a contract to perform as a belt wrestler in the circus of the Nikitin brothers. For three years of work with them, Ivan Maksimovich traveled all over the European part of Russia, performed in Kazan, Saratov, Astrakhan.
In 1903, the St. Petersburg Athletic Society invites him to take part in the sixth Parisian championship in French wrestling. Wrestling championships in France were then the main measure in assessing the rank of wrestlers. The 32-year-old athlete has already managed to get acquainted with the basics of French (classical) wrestling. However, he truly mastered it under the guidance of a gifted coach, Eugène de Paris, in preparation for the competition for the world title.
I. Poddubny learned how to properly train his body. As he recalls in his autobiography:“I trained daily with three wrestlers: with the first 20 minutes, with the second - 30 minutes, and with the third - 40-50 minutes, until each of them was completely exhausted to such an extent that he could no longer control his hands. After that, for 10-15 minutes, I ran with five-pound dumbbells in my hands, which, due to fatigue, were almost an unbearable burden for my hands. Then they put me in a steam bath with a temperature of up to 50 degrees for 15 minutes. At the end he took a shower; one day with semi-icy water, the other with a temperature of about 30 degrees .. Then they wrapped me in a sheet and a warm bathrobe for 30 minutes, so that excess moisture evaporated from the body and proper blood circulation was achieved, and in parallel with this - to give the body rest for the upcoming 10- kilometer walk, which was carried out with the fastest gymnastic step. This is how the "wrestling heart" was trained. As a result, that power was created, which was not equal on the wrestling mat. 
Possessing outstanding physical strength, Poddubny was not muscular - his muscles lay all over his body in colossal layers. But his figure overwhelmed everyone with his calm power. Here are his anthrometric data: with a height of 184 cm, he had a weight of 118 kg, chest circumference - 134 cm, biceps - 45 cm, forearms - 36 cm, wrists - 21 cm, neck - 50 cm, belts - 104 cm, hips - 72 cm, calves - 47 cm.
So after three months training, under the guidance of Eugene de Paris, Ivan Maksimovich goes to Paris. For the World Cup different countries 130 wrestlers arrived. The appearance on the carpet of a baggy-looking Russian wrestler was met with ridicule. The French public was waiting for the port loader, who had gathered the impudence to go out onto the carpet, to “fail miserably”. But this did not bother Poddubny - he knew that he was defending the honor of Russia. And soon, the spoiled audience realized that the Russian Ivan was not such a "clumsy bear" as he seemed at first, and applauded him, and threw flowers under his feet.
Ivan Maksimovich won in 11 fights. But in the 12th, he loses to the 20-year-old Frenchman Raul le Boucher and drops out of the tournament. The Frenchman rubbed himself with olive oil before the championship, and during the fight he came out with an oily sweat. Poddubny's grips and tricks failed. He demanded to wipe Raoul every five minutes of wrestling, but the sweat reappeared. And the Russian lost to the elusive Raoul le Boucher by only two points. The Frenchman's scam and the injustice of refereeing had a depressing effect on Poddubny. With a heavy heart, he returned to Russia, promising himself that he would still reckon with the scoundrel Frenchman.
And he kept his word. He won a brilliant victory over Raoul le Boucher in 1904 at the international championship in St. Petersburg. In a duel, having exhausted the Frenchman with continuous grips, Poddubny put him on all fours and held him in this position for forty-one minutes, saying: “This is for cheating, this is for olive oil.” It was a victory not only for Poddubny, it was a victory for Russia.
Honesty, directness, incorruptibility distinguished I. M. Poddubny throughout his long sports life. In 1905, Ivan Maksimovich again goes to Paris and there he wins the title of world champion for the first time. He is invited in great demand on a tour of Italy, Tunisia, Algeria, France, Belgium, Germany. Three years of touring put him forward as the undisputed champion, he did not give anyone the opportunity to put himself on the shoulder blades. All the strongest fighters in the world were his opponents. Participating in dozens of the largest championships in Russia and Europe, Poddubny takes first place in each of them. From 1905 to 1909, he won the world title six times in a row. Before him, no one could do it.
Poddubny fought sharply, with a twinkle. IN right moment he put all his strength into the movement, acted like an explosion. His famous tricks followed one after another in different directions, stunned the enemy and took him off balance. He was considered a fighter with an "iron will". Ivan Maksimovich started wrestling at the age of 26.
Forty-five years he played in the championships. His performance and athletic survivability are striking. He set an unsurpassed example of athletic longevity. At the age of 55, the hero makes an almost two-year tour of the United States, having mastered the techniques of freestyle wrestling, performs in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities, defeating the strongest wrestlers in hour-long fights. Newspapers closely followed the victories of the "Russian bear", called Poddubny "America's champion". The millions earned in two years of American tours were never handed over to Eve. Maksimovich. It is known for certain that the Americans offered him to change citizenship. The American immigration services set a condition: either he remains in America, or he loses all the money he has earned. To which the strong man proudly replied that he preferred the second. And it is still not known whether they remained on accounts in American banks or were used by the wrestler's relatives.
Ivan Maksimovich was married twice and had an adopted son. First wife - artist Antonina Kvitko-Khomenko. In 1909, Ivan Maksimovich came with his young wife to the neighboring village of Bogodukhovka from his parents. We bought 200 acres of land, started a garden, an apiary. However, Antonina did not like rural life. And when Denikin's men were in charge in the Cherkasy region, she fled with one white officer, taking all the medals of I. Poddubny, which he had won before 1909. In 1920, Ivan Maksimovich divorced her. People then said that they saw Antonina in France. She led a wild life. Medals of the wrestler-champion have not been found so far. 
Second wife- Maria Stepanovna Mashoshina. Once Ivan Maksimovich, speaking in Rostov-on-Don, stayed overnight in the house of a young wrestler Ivan Romanovich (professional wrestler, worked in the Rostov circus under the pseudonym Yan Romanych). Here he met his mother, Maria Semyonovna, who worked as a baker in a bakery. Poddubny was fascinated by the friendliness of this pretty woman. In 1927, after returning from a sports tour of America, he married her. And they moved to live in Yeysk. And the adopted son of Poddubny, Ivan Mashoshin, left professional wrestling, graduated from a technical university. For many years he worked as the chief engineer of the Rostov Automobile Assembly Plant. In March 1943, he died during a Nazi air raid on Rostov. He left behind a son, Roman. Ivan Maksimovich took care of him as if he were his own grandson. Taught sports. Roman studied at the Dynamo children's sports school, trained in classical wrestling. But during the Great Patriotic War, Roman Mashoshin went to defend his homeland, was seriously wounded. I had to refuse to participate in wrestling competitions.
So, in 1927, the hero continues to tour the country, buys a house in Yeisk, on the banks of the Yeisk estuary. He could afford to settle somewhere on the coast mediterranean sea or the Atlantic. But no, a true patriot of his country, he chose Yeysk on the map of Russia, because, to a Ukrainian by origin, he was native, soft in the south, with life-giving humor, the dialect of Ukrainian Kuban. Ivan Maksimovich easily and naturally “fitted” into the habitual life of our townspeople and felt comfortable here at home. famous sportsman became the idol of all the boys of Yeysk. 
In 1939, the country celebrates the 40th anniversary of Poddubny's circus activities. He was invited to Moscow from Yeysk, settled in the Moscow Hotel. Ivan Maksimovich, dressed in leotards, was carried by athletes in a chariot across Red Square. It became the apotheosis sports festival in Moscow. “As soon as the chariot drove into Red Square, Poddubny was recognized: they were shouting, applauding. Applauded and members of the Central Committee and members of the government, standing on the podium of the Lenin Mausoleum. On the chariot, behind Poddubny, on the shield was written: "World Wrestling Champion 1898-1939." November 19, 1939 Presidium Supreme Council The USSR awarded Poddubny with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and awarded him the honorary title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
In 1941, a wrestler at the age of seventy was solemnly retired. After leaving the carpet, the hero lived in Yeysk, swam in the estuary, performed at the local theater with memories, went to the market, met with schoolchildren-athletes.
From August 42nd to February 43rd, Yeysk was occupied by the Nazis. Ivan Maksimovich did not evacuate. Heart hurt. He was treated at a local sanatorium. believing in folk medicine, more trusted drugs and tinctures prepared from forest herbs. Life was difficult, and Poddubny, like all townspeople, had to look for a way to feed his family and himself. And food, for his pumped up body, required a lot. He could take a loaf of bread, cut it in half, spread half a kilo of butter and eat it like a normal sandwich. As he wrote in his memoirs: "In order not to die of hunger, I had to keep a billiard room." 
The world famous "champion of champions" worked during the occupation as a marker in a billiard room. It was located in a sailor's club, which is on R. Efremov Street (now Sverdlov Street), opposite the building of the Yeysk sanatorium, between the street. Lenin and Kommunarov. Near the billiard room there was a cinema hall of the sanatorium, where the occupiers watched newsreels of the front-line chronicle. Tipsy German officers from the cinema tumbled into the billiard room. The Germans knew Ivan Poddubny. Rumors circulated around the city that the Germans supposedly offered the hero to leave for Germany, to train German wrestlers, but he flatly refused. The townspeople said that in the billiard room he had order and cleanliness. He did not tolerate the raging drunken Germans and put them out of the door without ceremony.
He shocked the Nazis by walking with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. But the Germans respected and did not touch Ivan the Great. That's what they called him. When at the beginning of the 43rd the invaders fled from Yeysk, they began to gather around the fighter thunderclouds: “I worked for the Germans! Served the Nazis! The time was harsh, front-line. Particularly zealous "patriots" were ready to drive our fellow countryman to places "not so remote." However, reason prevailed. Justice won. The hero was not touched.
Ivan Maksimovich, in the very first days after the liberation of Yeysk, went to military units, promoting sports, healthy lifestyle life. The Yeisk City Executive Committee gave him coupons for food in the canteen and cards for dry rations. In those war years, such cards were issued only to very necessary specialists. 
After the war, I. Poddubny was 74 years old. He spoke with memories, showed wrestling techniques, corresponded with athletes, gave them advice on what and how to eat, how to temper the body, rejoiced at the victories of our wrestlers. He signed his letters like this: "Russian hero Ivan Poddubny." He was healthy and strong at his age, but in May 1947 he had an accident - an unsuccessful fall and a hip fracture. Ivan Maksimovich was bedridden. The bone did not heal for a long time. Without crutches, he could not move. For an athlete who experiences all his life physical exercise and until old age, exercising with weights, bed rest and crutches became fatal. But he did not give up, he trained even on one crutch and with a stick. However, my heart began to fail.
8August 1949 at 6 am, the hero died. I. Poddubny was buried in Zagorodny Park, next to the graves of pilots who died in the sky over Yeisk during the Great Patriotic War. All the inhabitants of Yeysk and all the surrounding villages came to the funeral, and famous wrestlers flew in. And in 1965, by decision of the Yeisk City Executive Committee, the park was named after I. M. Poddubny. 
In 1955, at the grave of Iv. Maksimovich, a monument was unveiled. The monument is a vertically standing slab of black marble. On the front is an oval portrait of Poddubny with a champion ribbon. Below is the inscription “Honored Artist of the RSFSR, multiple world champion I. M. Poddubny. 1871-1949". On the reverse side - the epitaph of the Yeysk poet A. S. Akhanov:
“I am full of people’s love for myself,
Here the Russian hero lies;
He has never been defeated
We win and the score is forgotten.
Years will pass...
Without fading
He will live in our hearts!
I don't know my rivals
Only death could not defeat him.
Not far from the grave is the Poddubny Memorial Museum. It was opened in 1971 on the centenary of the birth of Ivan Maksimovich. This is a unique institution, which is the only museum in Russia dedicated to one athlete. The design of the exposition is based on the image of the circus "Chapiteau", which is associated with the sports and labor biography of Poddubny. The museum's funds include more than 2,500 exhibits, including personal items, unique photographs and posters that tell about life and sports career.
Particularly impressive are steel nails twisted with a finger-thick ribbon, chains torn by a great wrestler, horseshoes broken in half, a dressing gown about one and a half meters wide, the original Order of the Red Banner of Labor. The same order that he was not afraid to wear under the Germans during the occupation. Training equipment is stored here, among them a barbell of 75 kg. In general, a cast-iron axle or an ordinary piece of rail could serve as a sports equipment for Poddubny. But he developed the strength of his fingers with the help of ordinary tennis balls that he carried with him.
He also had the famous cast-iron cane, about which there were legends. They say that when he arrived in the United States, he was met by a crowd of journalists in the New York port. Ivan Maksimovich gave one of them to hold his "cane" and he dropped it on his feet due to unexpected heaviness. With this "cane", 19.5 kg. I. Poddubny was walking along the streets of Yeysk. Now it is kept in the museum. In the basement there is a wrestling hall of the Youth Sports School No. 1.
A memorial plaque was installed on the house where the wrestler lived: “In this house from 1927 to 1949 lived the Russian hero Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.” The house, located on the corner of Sovetov and Pushkin streets, is still standing.
Ivan Maksimovich had no children, and after the death of his wife, new tenants settled in the house. Therefore, a new building was built for the museum. Every year the city hosts All-Russian tournaments in Greco-Roman wrestling, dedicated to the memory of I.M. Poddubny. Wrestlers who take first place in ten weight categories receive the right to be awarded the title of "Master of Sports of Russia", and the winner in the absolute weight class is awarded with a special prize of the head of the city. I. M. Poddubny left about himself the legendary glory of a hero, whose name is a symbol of invincible Russian strength. Now work is underway on a project to install a monument to I. Poddubny in Yeysk. 
Ivan Poddubny was born in the Poltava province in 1871 in the family of a hereditary Zaporozhye Cossack Maxim Ivanovich Poddubny, whose entire family was famous for its strength. Ivan also inherited great stature, phenomenal strength and extraordinary endurance from his ancestors, and through his mother, who sang beautifully, a delicate ear for music. As a child, on Sundays and holidays, he sang in the church choir.
From childhood, Ivan was accustomed to hard peasant work, and from the age of 12 he worked as a laborer. Father Maxim Ivanovich himself was of heroic stature and Herculean strength. After many years, Poddubny will say that the only person who is stronger than him is only his father.
In 1893-1896 he was a port loader in Sevastopol and Feodosia, in 1896-1897 he worked as a clerk in the Livas firm.
In 1896, in the Feodosia circus of Beskaravayny, Ivan Poddubny defeated very famous athletes at that time - Lurich, Borodanov, Razumov, and the Italian Pappy. From that moment, his wrestling career began.
Since 1897, he performed in circus arenas as a kettlebell lifter and wrestler (he started with Russian belt wrestling, in 1903 he switched to classical (French) wrestling). Repeatedly performed with tours in Russian cities and abroad, visiting about 50 cities in 14 countries.
Although he lost individual fights, he has not lost a single competition or tournament in 40 years of performances. Repeatedly won the "world championships" in classical wrestling among professionals, including the most authoritative of them - in Paris (1905-1908).
At the beginning of May 1915 in Yekaterinoslav (in the building of the old circus near the Ozerka) he defeated the champion Alexander Garkavenko (“black mask”), and two days later - over another champion Ivan Zaikin.
In the years civil war worked in the circuses of Zhytomyr and Kerch. In 1919 he defeated the best fighter of the Makhnovist army in Berdyansk. In 1920, he was arrested by the Odessa Cheka and sentenced to death, but was soon released.
In 1923-1924 he worked at the State Circus, then spent 3 years on tour in Germany and the USA.
On February 23, 1926, all the telegraphs of the planet “trumpeted” about him: “The other day, Ivan Poddubny defeated the best wrestlers of the new world in New York, having won the title of“ American Champion. ”The six-time world champion among professionals impressed everyone not only with his phenomenal strength and skill, but also sports longevity, because he was 55 in 1926. He always asked to be recorded as a Russian wrestler.
In 1927, in Arkhangelsk, he defeated the famous Vologda wrestler Mikhail Kulikov.
In November 1939, in the Kremlin, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR for his outstanding services "in the development of Soviet sports".
During the war years, he lived in the territory occupied by the Germans in the city of Yeysk. He refused to go to Germany and train German athletes, saying that “I am a Russian wrestler. I will remain them"
Carpet left in 1941 at the age of 70. The post-war years he lived in terrible poverty, for the sake of food he had to sell all the awards he won.
Ivan Maksimovich died on August 8, 1949 in Yeysk, a small resort town on the coast of Sea of Azov from a heart attack.
He was buried there, in Yeysk, in the city park, which now bears his name. There is also a monument to him, and nearby are the museum of I. M. Poddubny and the sports school named after him.
On the grave of Poddubny is carved: "Here lies the Russian hero."
Ranks
Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1939)
Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1945)
Awards
Order of the Legion of Honor (1911)
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1939)
Memory
In the USSR, since 1953, Poddubny memorials began to be held.
Since 1962, international tournaments in memory of Poddubny have been held.
Soviet films about Ivan Poddubny: "Wrestler and Clown" (1957). The role of Poddubny was played by Stanislav Chekan.
"Know ours!" (1985, film studio "Kazakhfilm"). The role of Poddubny was played by Dmitry Zolotukhin.
Ivan Poddubny. The tragedy of a strong man "(2005, documentary).
"Poddubny" (2014) The role of Poddubny was played by Mikhail Porechenkov.
An icebreaker was named after him.
Interesting Facts
Poddubny weighed about 120 kilograms. In 1903 (Poddubny was 32 years old) at the French wrestling championship in Paris, he was given a medical card: height 184 cm, weight 118 kg, biceps 46 cm, chest 134 cm on exhalation, thigh 70 cm, neck 50 cm.
In the spring of 1906, during the stay of Ivan Poddubny in Yekaterinoslav, visiting his friend, the historian of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks Dmitry Yavornitsky, their mutual friend, the famous artist Nikolai Strunnikov, painted his portrait, which depicted Poddubny as a Zaporozhye Cossack. It is kept in the Dnepropetrovsk Historical Museum.
During the occupation of Yeysk German troops in 1941-1943, Ivan Poddubny continued to defiantly wear his Order of the Red Banner of Labor. The Germans allowed him to open a billiard room at a military hospital, which allowed him to survive the occupation.
One day a representative of the German command came to Poddubny and offered to go to Germany to train German athletes. He refused: “I am a Russian wrestler. I will stay with them."
Ivan Poddubny had a steel cane, weighing 1 pood (16 kg), with which he constantly walked.
The name "Ivan Poddubny" is one of the four pleasure boats of the Feodosia seaport, launched in Taganrog in 1972.
In wrestling circles, a legend is told about how in 1905 in Paris, after Russo-Japanese War, Poddubny came into conflict with the Japanese master who was in France at that time hand-to-hand combat. The Japanese offered to sort things out in a fight, to which Poddubny agreed. The Japanese rival of Poddubny, through an interpreter, said that in honor of his country's victory over Russia, he would leave his opponent's life, 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 the moment when it seemed that nothing would help the Russian wrestler to cope with an unusual opponent for him, an unexpected thing happened - the Japanese left another capture 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 his knee. However, there is no documentary evidence of this story, although it was voiced in documentary Alexandra Smirnova "The Tragedy of the Strongman. Ivan Poddubny" (the film was shown on the channel "Russia" in 2005).
Ivan Poddubny (sitting in the center) with his brothers
On August 8, 1949, the strongest man of the 20th century, wrestler and athlete Ivan Poddubny, died. He collected the largest halls in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Budapest and New York. He was called "champion of champions" and "Russian hero". He performed in the arena until the age of seventy.
Biography
Ivan Poddubny Born in the Poltava province in 1871 in a family of Zaporozhye Cossacks. He inherited his strength from his father. A peasant who was accustomed to hard physical labor and taught his children to do it.
Already being an adult man, Ivan Poddubny will say that only his father is stronger than him.
The first love forced the future athlete to leave his father's house. Ivan fell in love with Alena, the daughter of a wealthy owner. But the girl's father was against the wedding, because he did not want to pass off his daughter as a poor man.
Poddubny went to work in Sevastopol. He gets a job as a loader in a Greek company. In Sevastopol, he meets sailors. It is from them that he learns that there is a training system.
In addition, a circus came to the city, with posters of performances of which flaunted athletes and wrestlers. Everyone could measure their strength with the artists. Poddubny also tried himself in this competition, but he was defeated in one of the categories. It was then that he realized that there were few natural physical data. From that moment on, training has become an integral part of Poddubny's life.
The future athlete once again tried his luck and surpassed them in the belt wrestling. It was a turning point in Poddubny's life. He becomes a wrestler, a circus performer.
Since 1922, the athlete worked in the Moscow State Circus, then in Petrograd. He toured a lot, and not only in Russia, he visited Germany and the USA. In America, Poddubny made a splash, he was even offered to stay in this country, but he did not want to.
The athlete returned to Russia, got married and moved with his family to Yeysk.
In November 1939, in the Kremlin, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR for truly outstanding services “in the development of Soviet sports”.
During the Second World War, Yeysk was occupied by the Germans. Poddubny was summoned to the Gestapo and offered to go to Germany to train German athletes. Poddubny refused. When the occupation ended, the athlete again went on tour. In 1947, he performed with the program "50 years in the circus arena."
On August 8, 1949, Ivan Poddubny died of a heart attack. He was buried in his native Yeysk. On his grave is carved: "Here lies the Russian hero."
On this day, we recall interesting facts from the biography of the athlete:
1. Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny had a fairly large physique. His weight was 120 kilograms, height - 184 centimeters, chest - 130 centimeters, waist - 100 centimeters, neck - 48 centimeters, biceps - 46 centimeters.
2. Even in his youth, Poddubny set himself a tough regimen: every day he performed exercises with 32-kilogram weights, 112-kilogram barbell, poured cold water and ate strictly according to the hours.
3. Ivan Poddubny was a vegetarian. And at the same time, very strong man. Athlete adhered carbohydrate diet- he used large quantities of cereals, flour products, fruits, honey.
4. The athlete never smoked or drank alcohol.
5. When did the Great Patriotic War, Poddubny was seventy years old. In order to somehow feed his family, the athlete went to work as a marker in the billiard room. A military hospital was located next to the institution, from where the players came. Poddubny often threw out the door of visitors who had gone over, thus fulfilling the role of bouncers. By the way, among the guests of the establishment were German soldiers. They say that they were proud of the fact that Poddubny himself kicked them out of the billiard room.
"Russian means strong!" Cult physical strength has always been in Russia. It is no coincidence that the main characters of folk tales were hefty heroes. There are plenty of strong men in our history.
The most powerful king: Peter the Great
Peter the Great can hardly be called a simple king. Among the Russian autocrats, he stood out both for his physical stature (height 204 cm) and his love for manual labor(he owned 14 craft specialties, was one of the best shipbuilders not only in Russia, but also in Europe, he personally wielded tools).
The irrepressible energy of the Russian emperor amazed his contemporaries. Peter twisted coins with his fingers, folded them "into a ram's horn" cast iron pans. Returning in 1698 from the Great Embassy, not far from Riga, he bought a horse, later named Lisetta, and decided to reforge it.
The king tested the strength of the horseshoe in his own way. If he can twist it - a bad horseshoe. Can't - good. The blacksmith redid the work several times. Finally, Peter was satisfied with the quality, he gave the blacksmith a copper penny. The blacksmith was also not so simple. Rolling a nickel with his fingers, he said that the quality of the coin did not suit him. So the blacksmith bargained for "gold". A fairy tale was even composed among the people about this episode from the life of the king.
The most powerful governor: Evpatiy Kolovrat
Evpatiy Kolovrat, despite the epic halo, is a historical figure. He was born in the village of Frolovo, Shilovsky volost.
According to The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu, Yevpaty Kolovrat learned about the Mongol invasion of the Ryazan Principality and, with a small detachment, moved to help, but found the city already devastated. "... the sovereigns of the slain and many people who died: some were killed and whipped, others were burned, and others were sunk."
Having overtaken the Mongols already in the Suzdal lands, the squad of Evpaty Kolovrat killed the Mongol-Tatar rearguard. “And Yevpaty beat them so mercilessly that the swords were blunted, and he took the Tatar swords and whipped them.”
Batu sent his best warrior Khostovrul against Kolovrat, but Evpaty defeated the Tatar hero in a fight, cutting him to the saddle. Despite the huge numerical superiority, the Tatars could not defeat the Kolovrat squad until they came up with the idea of using stone-beaten siege weapons against them.
As a tribute to the Russian warrior, Batu gave the body of the murdered Yevpaty Kolovrat to the remnants of his squad and ordered them to be released in peace. case for history Ancient Rus' extraordinary.
Bulls and Bears Winner: Grigory Rusakov
The turn of the 19th-20th centuries was surprisingly prolific for strongmen. One of them was Grigory Rusakov from Kursk, who was born in 1879 in 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 - a two-meter height and 150 kilograms of weight.
Rusakov was also known for repeatedly entering into demonstration fights with bears, bending horseshoes and rails, and once in London he defeated a bull in a fight.
Invincible: Ivan Poddubny
Oddly enough, the sports career of the invincible Poddubny began with a defeat. He worked as a loader in the port, then he decided to try his hand at wrestling in the circus of Ivan Beskoravayny. Ivan lost his first fight. Since that time, 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.
Soon he 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 got together three times. Despite the dirty methods practiced by the Frenchman, Poddubny not only defeated him, but also gave the cunning Frenchman 20 minutes of shame in St. Petersburg, holding him in an iron grip.
"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, carried a wounded horse from the battlefield.
He found his fate in the Hungarian circus, he developed the numbers himself, he 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; tore off the floor and held in his teeth a metal beam with assistants sitting at its ends; passing the shin of one leg through a loop of rope fixed under the very dome, he held in his teeth a platform with a piano and a pianist; lying with his bare back on a board with nails, he held a stone weighing 500 kilograms on his chest, which was beaten with sledgehammers.
"Russian Bear": Vasily Alekseev
Vasily Alekseev can be called the last hero of the Soviet era. He was born in 1942, since 1966 he lived almost constantly in the Rostov city of Shakhty. Despite world fame, Alekseev led a modest life, devoting himself entirely to his beloved work - weightlifting.
"Russian Bear" (as he was called by foreign fans) twice became the Champion Olympic Games, six times - World Champion, six times - European Champion, for seven years he held first place in the USSR championships.
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 amount three exercises- 645 kg (now there are no competitions in this discipline).
Vasily Alekseev competed with himself, from time to time setting new records in the championships. It was he who opened the era of the "six hundred", the first to conquer the six hundred kilogram peak.
"San Sanych": Alexander Karelin
If you ask anyone, even a person far from sports, to name a famous Russian wrestler, then the name of Alexander Karelin will sound. 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 had a height of 178 cm and a weight of 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 sports career. 4 years after joining the section, Karelin has already become the world champion among youth.
During his sports career, the wrestler collected all kinds of titles, won 887 fights, lost only two times. Three times he took Olympic gold, 9 times he became the world champion, 12 times - the champion of Europe, 13 times he took gold at the championships of the USSR, CIS and Russia. Alexander Karelin was awarded the Golden Belt four times as the best wrestler on the planet.
He seemed to come out of the myths about Hercules or from the epics about Ilya Muromets. The story of his life causes skepticism among many - well, this cannot be, it is implausible.
He was born in Russian Empire, shone in the arenas of Europe and America, survived the German occupation, and at the end of his life he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR ... How all this fit into the life of one person is incomprehensible to the mind.
But, having gone through difficult trials, having known great glory, having experienced love and betrayal, Ivan Poddubny remained the same as he was at the beginning - a hero with the innocence and naivety of a child.
Russian professional wrestler and athlete Ivan Poddubny. Photo: RIA Novosti
He was born on September 26 (October 8, according to a new style), 1871, in the village of Bogodukhovka in the Poltava region, into a Cossack family.
The Poddubny family was famous for its physical strength and power, and Vanya went to his ancestors. But if he inherited strength and endurance from his father, then from his mother - a delicate ear for music. This subsequently amazed contemporaries - this musicality did not combine with the appearance of a strong man.
The strength of the Poddubny family did not make them rich, therefore, from an early age, Ivan joined in hard physical labor, from the age of 12 he worked as a laborer.
In his early twenties, Ivan went to seek his fortune in the city. According to legend, unhappy love was the reason for this - a rich neighbor flatly refused to marry his daughter to the "hungry man".
Strongman Poddubny easily got a job as a port loader, first in Sevastopol, and then in Feodosia, and did not think about any other career.
Thirst for the fight
As is often the case, chance changed everything. The circus came to Feodosia Ivan Beskaravayny. An integral part of circus performances turn XIX-XX centuries there were performances of strongmen and wrestling fights. Here and in the circus of Beskaravayny there were wrestlers with whom it was proposed to compete with everyone.
Ivan, confident that he would not yield to the strongmen from the circus, tried his hand and ... unconditionally lost.
It was then that he realized that wrestling is not just a rivalry between strong people from birth, but a whole science.
Ivan was overwhelmed with excitement and a desire to prove that he can become the best.
He began to systematically train, study the technique of wrestling, and soon re-entered the circus arena, where he won several victories over well-known athletes at that time.
After that, he was hired as a professional wrestler in Enrico Truzzi's circus. Thus, at the age of 27, the brilliant career of Ivan Poddubny began.
Like most wrestlers at that time, he combined several roles. Poddubny demonstrated power tricks, for example, this one: they put a telegraph pole on his shoulders, on which ten people hung on both sides and, as a result, as a rule, the pole broke. The audience gasped in delight.
But the main spectacle, of course, was the fight. All of Russia soon spoke about Poddubny, since he had no equal in the traditional Russian wrestling on sashes.
Judge - scoundrel!
However, French wrestling, which was later called first classical and then Greco-Roman, was much more popular in the world. Poddubny switched to her, and in 1903 he received an offer to represent Russia at the world championship in Paris.
The conditions of the tournament, in which 130 wrestlers participated, were very tough - the loser of at least one fight was eliminated. The “Russian Bear” Poddubny went through 11 opponents like a hurricane until he met with the idol of the French public, Raoul le Boucher.
The fight with the French almost turned Poddubny away from the fight forever. Fights at that time could last for several hours, until one of the rivals was laid on the shoulder blades. The Frenchman, unable to take Poddubny with the first onslaught, began to frankly run away from him. In addition, it turned out that he was smeared with a fatty substance that interferes with grips - this dishonest method, by the way, is still used by wrestlers. When Poddubny drew the attention of the judges to this, they only shrugged their shoulders. And after an hour of fighting, the victory was given to Le Boucher "for beautiful and skillful avoidance of sharp tricks."
This decision angered even the French public, and Poddubny, shocked by such dishonesty, wanted to completely end his wrestling career.
Friends and colleagues hardly managed to convince the giant. But I must say that Poddubny, by virtue of his nature, was extremely inconvenient for the organizers of wrestling fights - he basically did not hold “fixed” fights and did not take bribes. Because of this, a couple of times his opponents even tried to organize the murder of Poddubny, but, fortunately, these plans fell through.
Why was Poddubny not an Olympic champion?
Le Boucher was rewarded at the international championship in St. Petersburg, where he again met with Poddubny. Revenge was cruel - the Russian wrestler twirled the Frenchman as he wanted. For twenty minutes, he held the opponent, excuse me, in a knee-elbow position, to the whistling and hooting of the public, until the judges took pity on Le Boucher. After this defeat, the French wrestler had a real tantrum.
The tournament was won by Poddubny, who defeated another Frenchman, world champion Paul Pons, in the final in a two-hour fight.
With titles at that time, everything was quite difficult. In professional wrestling, in one city or another, the tournament was announced as the “world championship”. Poddubny won almost everywhere, but it’s quite difficult to understand exactly how many times he was the world champion.
But it is known that in the period from 1905 to 1908 he invariably won the most prestigious of the tournaments - the world championship in French wrestling in Paris.
At that time, the Olympics were already gaining popularity, the program of which included wrestling, but Poddubny was ordered to go there. The Olympics were then exclusively the lot of amateur athletes, and Poddubny was a professional.
“But with personal ... Well, only with personal - hello ...”
By 1910, the wrestler, who had won everything, earned a lot of money, was tired of the world of professional wrestling and decided to end his career. He left for his homeland, bought a house, land and began to manage the household.
However, the businessman from Poddubny was useless, moreover, his wife's requests quickly reduced his financial capital.
In general, in love affairs, the giant was disastrously unlucky. At the very beginning of his career in the circus, Poddubny fell in love with a 40-year-old Hungarian tightrope walker, an experienced and temperamental woman. Ivan was ready to marry her, but the Hungarian soon found herself a new boyfriend.
Then there was an affair with gymnast Masha Dozmarova. It was an amazing couple - a huge strong man and a fragile, almost airy girl. But on the eve of the wedding, a tragedy happened - Masha fell from under the dome of the circus and crashed to death.
The first wife of Poddubny was Antonina Kvitko-Fomenko, and it was she who squandered everything that her husband earned, and at the height of the Civil War, she completely fled, taking with her part of her husband's medals.
In 1922, Poddubny married the mother of a young wrestler Ivan Mashonin, Maria Semyonovna, and in this marriage he finally found personal peace.
Monument to Ivan Poddubny in Yeysk. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Karachun
American voyage of the "Russian bear"
On the eve of the First World War, Poddubny, whose finances sang romances thanks to Antonina, returned to the circus and again began to win victory after victory.
He also performed during the years of the Civil War, although this time in his biography is perhaps the most mysterious page. Only one thing is known for sure - the simple-minded giant was too far from politics to join any of the parties, and at the same time he was equally warmly welcomed by whites, and reds, and greens.Already at the very end of the war in Odessa, Poddubny was almost shot by the Reds - the Chekists confused him with the organizer of Jewish pogroms by the name of Poddubnov, but, fortunately, they figured it out in time.
In 1922, Ivan Poddubny began performing at the Moscow Circus. Doctors examine the 51-year-old wrestler and make a helpless gesture - there are no complaints, his health is excellent.
In 1924, Ivan Poddubny received permission to go on a long tour of Germany and the United States.
Surprisingly, the fact is that the wrestler, who was well over 50, was in no way inferior to rivals who were fit for him not only as sons, but even as grandchildren.
In the USA, where the rules of wrestling were far from European and more like a street fight. Poddubny, however, quickly got used to it and continued to win, collecting full halls in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco.
“The other day I had dinner with Poddubny, a man of great strength and the same stupidity,” this characterization of the athlete was given not by anyone, but by the famous Russian writer Alexander Kuprin. The great wrestler was really incredibly naive, which was used by those around him. When Poddubny, who missed his homeland, went home, the Americans actually deprived him of the fees he earned - they say they still remain somewhere in American bank accounts.
How Poddubny worked as a bouncer for the Germans
Nevertheless, in the USSR, Poddubny was greeted as a hero. Upon his return, the wrestler announced that he had completed his career and would henceforth be engaged in the popularization of wrestling.
Announced, and ... did not complete. He had his last fight on the wrestling mat in 1941, at the age of 70. History does not know another similar example of sports longevity in this sport.
In 1939, 68-year-old Ivan Poddubny participated in the parade of athletes on Red Square, and in the same year he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Poddubny wore this award with pride, practically without taking it off, which a few years later almost cost him his life.He settled in small town Yeysk on the coast of the Sea of Azov. From many years of overload, the heart began to fool around, but Poddubny did not go to the doctors, preferring traditional medicine. When the war began and the Germans occupied Yeysk, the wrestler refused to evacuate anywhere, saying that he had little time left to live and there was no point in running.
Once a German patrol detained an elderly giant with a Soviet order on his chest on Yeisk Street. The Nazis were taken aback by such impudence, but they were even more taken aback when they found out who was in front of them.
The glory of Poddubny was so great that the invaders did not touch him or his award and, moreover, offered to move to Germany to train German athletes there.
If Poddubny had been more cunning, he probably would have thought before refusing, but the strong man immediately answered with a resolute “no”.
The Germans shrugged their shoulders and ... left Poddubny alone. Moreover, in order for the strong man to earn a living, they gave him a place as a marker in the billiard room.
Part-time Poddubny worked as a bouncer in a bar for the Nazi military.
This, of course, was complete surrealism: an elderly giant with a Soviet order on his chest with one hand throws out drunk soldiers of the Fuhrer into the street. And the Aryans, sober in the morning, run not to deal with the “Russian pig”, but to write a letter to their wife: “You know, dear, Ivan Poddubny himself threw me out into the street yesterday!”.
Bust of Ivan Poddubny in Yeysk. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / GennadyL
The giant was crippled by hunger
After the liberation of Yeysk, the state security agencies conducted an inspection regarding Poddubny's cooperation with the Germans and ... did not find crime, believing that the retired fighter had not betrayed his homeland in any way, and "commerce is just commerce."
Moreover, in 1945 Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. This was already the second title of Poddubny - in 1939, as a circus performer, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
Alas, all these titles did not help Poddubny in the post-war years. No, he was not persecuted for political reasons, the trouble was different - for a normal life, the giant needed much more food than ordinary person, and under the card system it was almost impossible to solve this problem.
Poddubny turned to the local authorities, they helped in any way they could, but this was clearly not enough. IN last years Poddubny sold his medals to buy groceries.
Perhaps if he had lived in Moscow, everything would have turned out differently, but in little Yeysk the wrestler was left to himself.
Once, returning from the market, he fell, having received a fracture of the femoral neck. Since then, the famous hero walked only on crutches.
Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny died of a heart attack on August 8, 1949 and was buried in a city park, next to the graves of soldiers who fell in the Great Patriotic War.
Later, a large granite stone was installed on his grave, on which it is written: "Here lies the Russian hero."
Read the review of the film about Ivan Poddubny with Mikhail Porechenkov in the title role >>
