Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was a Russian and Soviet professional wrestler. He came from a family of Zaporozhian Cossacks and was born on 8 October 1871 in the village of Krasenovka in the Poltava Governorate. From childhood he was accustomed to hard peasant labor, and from the age of 12 he worked as a hired farmhand. From 1893 to 1896 he worked as a dock laborer in Sevastopol and Feodosia.

From 1897 Poddubny performed in circuses as a kettlebell lifter and wrestler, at first practicing belt wrestling, and from 1903 switching to French (Greco-Roman) wrestling. In 1905 he won the world championship title in Paris and repeatedly defended that title in subsequent years. Poddubny became famous across the country and earned a reputation as the strongest wrestler. He performed in various cities, including Poltava, Zhytomyr, and Kerch.

After participating in the first Soviet championship in French wrestling in 1922, he continued to perform in the circus. This was followed by tours in Germany and the United States, where he mastered freestyle wrestling and suffered only one defeat. Returning to the USSR, Poddubny settled in Yeysk, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny retired in 1941, survived the occupation, and died in Yeysk on 8 August 1949 in his 78th year of life. He was buried in the same city in a park now bearing his name.