Aleksandr Karelin

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin (Александр Александрович Карелин; born 19 September 1967) is a Russian politician and retired athlete.

He began training in 1981, under Viktor Kuznetsov, who remained his coach through his entire career.

He initially started boxing, following in the footsteps of his father, until he decided against it.

He also tried weightlifting, volleyball, basketball, skiing and swimming, excelling in all the sports he tried.

Being naturally very big, he came to a wrestling gym, aged 13, standing 179 cm tall and weighing 79 kg, Karelin grew physically very fast and from 16 years of age throughout his entire career he competed in the super heavyweight division, he went undefeated for the first time from 1982 to 1987 and second time from 1987 to 2000.

In 1985 he came to an international competition and won a junior world title.

He won gold at Friendship-84 in Greco-Roman wrestling as a junior.

In 1986, he competed in 14 tournaments, winning all of them.

In addition to his wrestling success, twice was Karelin the winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, in 1986 and 1991.

Karelin competed in Greco-Roman wrestling, representing the Soviet Union and Russia between 1987 and 2000.

Nicknamed the "Russian Bear", "Russian King Kong", "Alexander the Great", "The Experiment", and "The Crane from Novosibirsk", he is widely considered to be the greatest and most dominant Greco-Roman wrestler of all time.

He had his first loss (score 0–1) at the USSR championships in 1987, to the reigning Russian and European champion Igor Rostorotsky; he defeated Rostorotsky at the next USSR Championships while recovering from a flu and a recent concussion.

Thus his only two losses were in the finals of the 1987 USSR Championships and 2000 Summer Olympics.

However, both of his losses are considered controversial, with him only losing to both opponents by a single point.

Some argue, such as Finnish former wrestler Tuomo Karila, that Gardner should not have been awarded the point, and that Karelin should have won.

Karelin won gold medals at the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympic Games under a different flag each time (Soviet Union, Unified Team, and Russia respectively), and a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games.

His wrestling record at the senior level is 887 wins and two losses, both controversial and both by a single point.

Karelin was the national flag bearer at three consecutive Olympics: in 1988 for the Soviet Union, in 1992 for the Unified Team, and in 1996 for Russia.

In addition to his success in Greco-Roman wrestling, he was also a sambo champion during his service in the Internal Troops.

He would go on to become a 13-time champion of the USSR, CIS, and Russia from 1988 to 2000.

In the 1988 Olympic final Karelin came close to losing to Rangel Gerovski, but with 50 seconds left managed to execute his signature Karelin Lift and won.

With his win, Karelin became the youngest Greco-Roman wrestler to become an Olympic champion at super heavyweight (130 kg) at the age of 21 years and two days.

Four times he was awarded the "Golden Belt" as the best wrestler of the planet by FILA - in 1989, 1990, 1992, and 1994.

He is listed as runner-up to David Koplovitz at the 1992 Wrestling World Cup, for while he won all of his matches at the event, his partner Andrey Grishin competed in the rest of the rounds, and so they did not accumulate enough ranking points to beat the American team.

At the 1992 Summer Olmypic Games in Barcelona, Karelin won one of the fastest Olympic wrestling matches, pinning Ioan Grigoraş in only 14 seconds.

Karelin was named a Hero of the Russian Federation in 1996.

At the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Karelin faced American Matt Ghaffari for the gold medal.

Karelin had come off a shoulder surgery and looked vulnerable against a strong Ghaffari, who was able to repel Karelin's efforts to lift and slam him, forcing Karelin to use all of his skill and experience to defend a 1–0 lead.

After going 13 years undefeated in international competition and six years without giving up a point, he lost 0–1 to Rulon Gardner of the United States in the final of the Sydney Olympics.

His loss to Gardner is considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history.

His loss in the final of the Sydney Olympics was his first and only international loss, having previously been unbeaten throughout his international career.

Karelin entered politics in 1999, being elected a deputy of the State Duma that year.

Prior to his defeat to American Rulon Gardner at the 2000 Olympics finals, a point had not been scored against him in competition the previous six years.

He went undefeated in the world championships, having never lost a match.

Karelin retired from competitions in 2000.

Due to his dominance and accomplishments, Karelin was named as the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of the 20th century by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), and is one of the class of ten inaugural inductees into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003.

In 2007, Karelin, alongside Buvaisar Saitiev, were voted the best wrestlers in the history of the sport by FILA.

He sat in the Duma through various convocations until 2020, when he entered the Federation Council as a senator.

Karelin was born as a 5.5 kg baby.

He was an avid fan of literature and mathematics during his school years.