Ivan Poddubny

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny (; ; – 8 August 1949) was a professional wrestler from the Russian Empire and Soviet Union.

Biography

Poddubniy was born on John the Apostle day in 1871 into a family of Zaporozhian Cossacks in the village of Krasenivka, in the Zolotonosha county (uyezd) of the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Zolotonosha Raion of Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine). Having a big family Poddubny senior had a difficult time to provide for them, therefore Ivan was forced to leave his father's house before turning 20.

Before returning to his home in Krasenivka in 1910, he also won several more world cups in Vienna, Paris, and Frankfurt. On June 16, Stecher defeats Poddubny again at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles in front of 10,000 people.

During his tour in the United States he was forced to fight freestyle as his opponents.

And the last battle is held at the age of 70. After the end of his career, he moved to the Sea of Azov and lived until his death - 77 years. Poddubny maintained a lifelong professional rivalry with wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko. He died undefeated on 8 August 1949, in the town of Yeysk, in the Kuban region in Southern Russia from a heart attack. Ivan was buried in Yeysk in a park outside of the city. Legion of Honour (1911) Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1939) Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1939) Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR (1945)

Legacy There is a monument dedicated to Poddubny in his home village of Krasenivka. There is also the Ivan Poddubny Fund headed by Petro Dusheiko (former governor of Chornobai Raion). The Fund sponsors the annual festival of bogatyr strength which is conducted since 1998. The festival which gathers up to 10,000 people was visited once by a grandson and great grandson of Ivan Poddubny who arrived from Kazakhstan.

Piddubny Olympic College, a former Republican Higher School of Physical Culture (in Kyiv) renamed in 2015