Poddubny name. "A man of great strength and stupidity." The true story of Ivan Poddubny. Interesting facts from the biography of Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny

Ivan Poddubny is a professional wrestler, athlete and circus performer. A legendary man, whose performances were sold out in Russia, France, Italy, Germany and America. Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was born on September 26 (old style) 1871 in the village of Bogodukhovka, Poltava province.

Ivan inherited his remarkable physical strength from his father, a descendant of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. The future strongman from childhood was accustomed to hard peasant labor, from the age of 12 he worked as a laborer. Ivan's mother had a beautiful voice. A subtle ear for music was passed on to his son. On Sundays, the hero Poddubny sang in the church choir.

At the age of 22, the guy left his native village for the Crimea, Ivan was pushed to this step by love. Alena, the girl whom Ivan loved, grew up in a wealthy family, so her father was categorically against marriage to the poor Poddubny. Ivan dreamed of earning a lot of money, getting rich and returning to the girl, but soon after leaving, the young man forgot about her. For 3 years, the future athlete worked as a loader in the ports of Sevastopol and Feodosia. There Poddubny met sailors who spoke about the training system.

Sport

For the first time, Poddubny entered the ring in 1896, when the Beskaravayny circus toured the Crimea. From that moment began the athlete's sports career. Port loader Ivan followed the performances of the athletes with interest. After the number, the entertainer turned to the audience with a proposal to take part in the duel. Poddubny came out and surpassed the titled athletes who performed "on the belts". The beginning of a wrestling career was laid.

In 1903, the chairman of the Society of Athletes in St. Petersburg invited Ivan Poddubny to participate in the World Championships in Paris. For 3 months, the wrestler had to master the French style of wrestling. The workouts were intense.

In Paris, the "Russian bear" opposed titled athletes. Ivan Maksimovich won 11 fights, but lost to the Frenchman Bush. Before the fight, Bush went to the trick - he smeared his body with oil so that the opponent's hands would slide over him. The judges awarded the victory to Bush, and Ivan Poddubny received a lesson for life. Since then, Ivan has become an ardent opponent of dirty methods in the ring.

In 1905, an international championship was again held in Paris, Ivan's victory in it was triumphant. In the next 3 years, the winning streak continued. Poddubny was invited to competitions in different countries. Journalists wrote about the athlete only as a “champion of champions”. The life of the hero passed on the road, but he dreamed of his own home, family, and in 1910 he decided to leave the sport.

Circus career

Poddubny returned to the circus arena at the age of 42, worked first in Zhytomyr, then in Kerch. In 1922, when Ivan Poddubny was already 51 years old, the strong man was invited to the troupe of the Moscow Circus. After a medical examination, the doctors said that the athlete was in excellent health, there were no contraindications.

Then there was work in the Petrograd circus. The difficult financial situation forced Ivan Poddubny to agree to tour in Germany and America. Performances were sold out, but in 1927 the athlete decided to return to Russia. It is assumed that in the United States the wrestler earned a lot of money, which remained in an account in an American bank.

Ivan Poddubny performed in the circus until the age of 70, and this was the artist's personal record.

Personal life

Ivan's first love for a girl from his native village was short-lived. Rather, not even love, but youthful love.

For the second time, the athlete fell in love with tightrope walker Emilia. The girl was older and more experienced than Ivan, she subtly played on the feelings of the young man, forcing the athlete to indulge her whims and whims. Soon a wealthy admirer appeared on the horizon of Emilia, with whom the woman left.

After the flight of Emilia, Ivan moved to Kyiv. Here the man met the fragile gymnast Masha. The petite girl reciprocated the man. The couple made plans for the future, but fate decreed otherwise. During the performance, Mashenka fell off the trapeze and crashed.

At the age of 40, Ivan Poddubny married for the first time. His wife was the beautiful Antonina Kvitko-Fomenko. The couple bought a plot of land, built a house and started a farm. The marriage lasted 7 years, until Antonina met an officer and ran away with him - at that time Poddubny was touring in Odessa. A few years later, Antonina wanted to return to her husband, but the man did not forgive her.

The last love of Ivan Poddubny is the widow Maria Mashonina, the mother of his student. The strongman was shocked by the beauty and sensuality of a woman. The couple lived on the beach Sea of ​​Azov, in Yeysk, where they bought a house after the American tour of the athlete. With Maria, the Russian hero lived to death. Poddubny had no children, but Ivan Maksimovich treated his son Maria with paternal tenderness.

Death

Poddubny died on August 8, 1949 from a heart attack. The food ration, which was given out in those years, was not enough for the athlete's body for normal functioning.

After the death of the champion, the wife was able to pay for a simple grave without a monument. And only when they wrote in the press that the champion was resting in a grave overgrown with weeds, a monument was erected to Ivan Poddubny. The inscription on the tombstone reads: "Here lies the Russian hero."

• From childhood, Ivan Maksimovich established a strict sports regimen. A wrestler with a height of 185 cm weighed 120 kg. Contemporaries of Poddubny have repeatedly said that the strongman constantly carried with him a steel cane weighing 16 kg. By 1910, the athlete had already won a large number of awards and trophies. It is assumed that by that time the total weight of the badges and gold medals of the athlete was two pounds.
• In 1919, drunken anarchists tried to shoot Poddubny in the Zhytomyr circus. A similar incident occurred later in Kerch. The wrestler was shot by an officer who was in a state of alcohol intoxication, and a year later, the athlete ended up in the dungeons of the Odessa Cheka. The black streak in the life of Ivan Maksimovich was continued by his wife's betrayal.

• The wrestler grew his famous mustache in 1898. The man agreed to such a radical step, having listened to the advice of the Kyiv circus performer Akim Nikitin. He advised the athlete to change his appearance, pointing to the roots of the artist, who came from the Zaporozhye Cossacks. Then it appeared famous photo Poddubny with a mustache, in a Circassian coat with a dagger and gazyrs.
• When Poddubny was 53 years old, the wrestler lost to Ivan Chufistov, a famous Ryazan wrestler. After a hard fight, Ivan Maksimovich said to his opponent:

“Oh, Vanka, I didn’t lose to you, but to my old age.”

• During the years of the Great Patriotic War the athlete remained in the territory occupied by German troops. Despite this, Poddubny continued to wear the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. The Germans respected the merits of the celebrity, even allowed the strongman to open a billiard room at a military hospital, and also offered to go to Germany to train local athletes, but he answered briefly:

“I am a Russian wrestler. I will stay with them."

• In 2014, the film "Poddubny" was released, telling about the life of the legendary wrestler. According to the plot, the picture repeats in many details the Soviet film "The Wrestler and the Clown", which was created in 1958.
• became popular and documentary"The Tragedy of the Strongman. Ivan Poddubny”, in which the creators told about interesting facts from the life of the legend.
• When the athlete died, an order came from Moscow to bury Ivan Maksimovich with honors, but the “king of wrestlers” (nickname of Ivan Poddubny) was behind the cemetery fence. Until the early 70s, the athlete’s grave remained abandoned until the Air Force staff reminded everyone about tragic fate legends. Today, the folk trail to the grave of the hero does not overgrow.

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 from his ancestors a big increase, phenomenal strength and extraordinary endurance, and along the line of the 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. He 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 “Champion of America”. Six times champion Mira among professionals impressed everyone not only with his phenomenal strength and skill, but also with sports longevity, because in 1926 he was 55! 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 shores of the 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, famous artist Nikolai Strunnikov painted his portrait, in which he depicted Poddubny as a Zaporozhye Cossack. It is kept in the Dnepropetrovsk Historical Museum.
During the occupation of Yeysk by 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 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 the documentary film by Alexander Smirnov “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

Biography of Ivan Poddubny Ivan Poddubny - biography Under this name, the Russian athlete and wrestler Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny entered the history of world sports. This hero was born on October 9 (September 26), 1871 in a peasant family of farmers in Ukraine, in the Poltava province, in the village of Krasenivka (now Cherkasy region). He lived there for 21 years. Ivan is the eldest son, three brothers and three sisters grew up with him. The entire family of Poddubny had good health and great physical strength. Father Maxim Ivanovich was of heroic stature and possessed the strength of Hercules. Yes, and Vanya all went to his father: at the age of 15 he was not afraid to grapple with him in a fight on sashes. At 22, Ivan got a job as a loader in the port of Sevastopol, and two years later (in 1895) he moved to Feodosia, where he works as a worker in the Livas company. At this time, he begins to get involved exercise : works out with dumbbells, kettlebells, in the morning, after charging, runs. In 1896, the Beskorovainy circus arrived in the city. Every evening, Ivan came to the circus and carefully watched the performances of athletes who broke horseshoes, bent thick metal rods, lifted weights and huge ball bars. As always, at the end of the performance, the athlete offered those who wished to repeat a trick for a monetary reward. Poddubny entered the arena and tried to repeat some tricks. But unsuccessful. But in the belt wrestling, he defeated all wrestlers with the exception of the giant Petr Yankovsky. Poddubny was offered to work in the circus for several months as an athlete. It was here that he became interested in the circus. In 1897 he went to Sevastopol, where at that time there was a circus "Truzzi". Poddubny is taken to the troupe of wrestlers, led by Georg Lurich. Soon Poddubny wins over all members of the troupe. For some time he fought on belts in the Nikitin Circus. Since 1903 he has been specializing in French (classical) wrestling and from that moment on he has no equal. Wins all major national championships. According to the subtle observation of the doctor E. Garnich-Garnitsky, who, together with A. Kuprin, created a club of athletes in Kiev, where the future "champion of champions" trained at one time, "Poddubny was able to develop energy like an explosion at the right moments, and not lose his" courage "in the most difficult and dangerous moments of the struggle ..." He was an intelligent fighter, and the fury of Achilles lived in him. At the same time, Poddubny was artistic and knew how to please the public. By 1903, he was already an experienced belt wrestler, known to Odessa and Kyiv, Tbilisi and Kazan ... In 1903 he received an invitation from the chairman of the St. Petersburg Athletic Society, Count Georgy Ivanovich Ribopierre. Poddubny was invincible in belt wrestling, and only mastered French. He was given coach Eugene de Paris and was given three months to prepare. The training days were very intense. And so, together with his coach, Poddubny goes to Paris. The championship was held at the Casino de Paris. Poddubny already had eleven victories. The next meeting was to be held with the champion of Paris and the favorite of the public, Raoul le Boucher, a very strong young twenty-year-old wrestler. Poddubny was at that time thirty-five years old. The fight began, Poddubny felt that he could win another victory, but, strange to say. Ten minutes later, the opponent began to sweat intensely, and so slipped out of all the grips. It turned out that before the fight, Raul was lubricated with olive oil, which was prohibited by the rules of the competition. Poddubny stopped the fight and a protest was filed with the judges. A strange decision was made - to wipe Raul with a towel every five minutes. Raul continued to sweat, although he was regularly dried with a towel. And so the judges, for skillful avoidance of captures, awarded the victory to Raoul le Boucher. Poddubny decided to take revenge. In the meantime, he takes part in the Moscow Championship, where he defeats all the participants, including Shemyakin, Lurich, Yankovsky, and receives the first prize. Then he fights in the provinces, where his performances bring sold-out circuses. In 1904 he took part in a competition of strongmen, where without special training lifted a barbell weighing 120 kg for biceps! In the same year, the Cinizelli Circus hosted the international championship in French wrestling. Prominent wrestlers arrived, including world champion Paul Pons, Nikola Petrov and Raoul le Boucher. The championship lasted a month. All Petersburg nobility filled the boxes and front rows in the circus. Poddubny went undefeated. And now, the fight with Raul. This time, Poddubny exhausted the enemy so much that Raul pleaded defeated. Poddubny won the first prize and a cash prize of 55 thousand rubles. Poddubny continued to train. I followed a strict regimen. Did daily morning exercises, drenched cold water, worked with kettlebells. I ordered a metal cane for walking, with which I walked every day. Didn't drink, didn't smoke. In 1905 he went to Paris for a major international championship with the participation of the strongest wrestlers from almost all countries. The last fight took place with the world champion Dane Nes Pedersen ("Iron Nese") who was considered the strongest man. Poddubny defeated the Dane and received a prize of 10,000 francs and the title of world champion. Poddubny receives invitations to tour in different countries. He goes to Nice and gets the first prize, then he fights without defeat in Italy, then he goes to Algeria and Tunisia. After this fight in Germany, he wins first places everywhere. Goes to St. Petersburg, to the Cinizelli circus, where the world championship is taking place. Poddubny wins it. He goes to Paris for the world championship, wins this championship and for the second time receives the title of world champion. In the same year, in Milan, he won the title of world champion for the third time. In 1907, in Vienna, he won the title of world champion for the fourth time. The press began to call him "Champion of Champions". Continues touring in many European countries, and everywhere knows no defeat. In 1908, Poddubny, together with Ivan Zaikin and Grigory Kashcheev, went to Paris for the world championship, where he again won. Zaikin took second place, Kashcheev - fourth (prize), Poddubny became the world champion for the fifth time. In 1909, he received the title of world champion for the sixth time in the city of Frankfurt. It should be said that Poddubny never compromised. Even for a lot of money, he did not agree to perform according to a pre-planned scenario, which was often practiced in circuses. There are quite understandable explanations why wrestlers cheat and collude. First: otherwise the wrestler will not last long. Secondly, each organizer of the tournament wants to become a "world champion" and invites those who are accommodating. By the way, such "chic tournaments" in those years brought to mankind almost one and a half hundred "world champions". Surely it was not easy to resist this worldwide farce! The statement of Ivan Zaikin, the famous "Volga hero", and later the no less famous aeronaut and aviator: "Only outstanding athletes, such as Ivan Poddubny, Ivan Shemyakin, Nikolai Vakhturov..." In 1910, Poddubny said goodbye to the arena and returned to Krasenivka. He dreamed of his home, he wanted family happiness. And even then - by the age of forty - it's time. In the vicinity of his native Krasenivka and neighboring Bogodukhovka, he acquired 120 acres of black soil (more than 131 hectares), got married, benefited his relatives with land allotments, built an estate in Bogodukhovka on an area of ​​​​13 acres, started two excellent mills, a fashionable stroller ... He was not literate a man, wrote with difficulty, punctuation marks, except for periods, Ivan Maksimovich neglected. He was not a delicate person, either, he could give a person - not equal to himself - two fingers to shake. Rotating "in spheres", it was easier for him to lay a dozen grenadier officers on his shoulder blades than to learn how to use a knife and fork ... However, we know people who are well educated, but the concept of their professional honor (creative, political or scientific) has the most arbitrary, spending chic life. That's the only reason you want to remember and think about Poddubny. It’s hard to say why, but for some reason it’s not a pity that the landowner came out of him bad: after a couple of years, Poddubny went bankrupt. One of his mill burned out of evil younger brother, the second, like the estate, he sold to pay the debt to his competitors, the owners of the surrounding mills, a certain Rabinovich and Zarkha. In 1913, the wrestling carpet was already springing under his feet again. He entered the same river a second time. And the stream became even more muddy. They again spoke about Poddubny with admiration ... Until the last, he adhered to his principle "let him put it if he can." In 1919, drunken anarchists almost shot Poddubny in the Zhytomyr circus. He fled, leaving his things, wandering without money. A little later, in Kerch, a drunken officer shot at him, scratched his shoulder. In Berdyansk, in the same 19th, he had an unpleasant meeting with Makhno ... During the Civil War, Poddubny did not join either side, did not take up arms, he fought in circuses. And indeed, in the days of drunken meat grinders, the place of the hero, perhaps, should be in the booth, the absolute symbol of what is happening around. In 1920, he visited the dungeons of the Odessa Cheka, where everyone suspected of anti-Semitism was shot. Fortunately, they remembered Poddubny in person, sorted it out, and let him go. And here is the news small homeland: the wife found a replacement for Ivan Maksimovich. She also took medals. “Oh, you, Nina, the beauty! ..” He stopped eating and talking, and then he stopped recognizing anyone ... Soon she wrote repentantly: “On my knees I will go all the way to you, Vanechka” ... But where is it, cut off! The Soviet government, represented by Lunacharsky, supported the circus artists, considering the arena good place for revolutionary propaganda. Since 1922, Poddubny worked in the Moscow State Circus, then in Petrograd. Somehow he ended up on tour in Rostov-on-Don and met Maria Semyonovna there ... Ivan Maksimovich rejuvenated, persuaded, got married. With funds - to which he was not used - it was tight. NEP carried him through the cities and villages, brought him to Germany, where he won victories over all rivals, most of whom were younger than him. In 1925 he went to America. Learns freestyle wrestling, in which leg grabs, trips and kicks are allowed. A month later, Poddubny was ready to fight on the carpet with American wrestlers. The first fights took place in New York. Poddubny made a splash in America, traveled all over the country, was even proclaimed the "Champion of America". He was persuaded to stay. However, “persuaded” is the wrong verb, they forced: serious threats, blackmail, non-payment of money were used. More than a thousand people attended the farewell banquet ... After that, he returns to his homeland and continues to perform at the arena until 1941. Here is a characteristic of the famous Ivan Poddubny gives in the album "Wrestlers" (1917) Ivan Vladimirovich Lebedev (Uncle Vanya): Ivan Poddubny. "The one that ... etc. broke the world's best fighters without any regret and without the slightest embarrassment. He was as strong as a natural hurricane. Of all the laws of life, he knew one: "homo homini lupus est" and firmly followed his command. In jerks - out of competition. If, it used to be, the enemy resisted especially desperately, - Poddubny would definitely step on his foot in the stalls. He was terrible not only for Russians, but for all foreign wrestlers: if he didn’t quit, he would break him. Now he has a mill and an estate in his native Poltava province and fights in the halo of the past. great glory. He is 45 years old." In the spring of 1927, Ivan Maksimovich finally returned to his homeland. Like Odysseus, he overcame the trials and temptations that were allotted to him. filled it with flowers, and now - Leningrad. imperial city met him, as in all times the capitals of empires meet their heroes. But the main thing is that Maria Semyonovna was standing on the pier. Sports games were held in his honor. In Yeysk, the Poddubnys bought a large two-story house with a garden. But Ivan Maksimovich did not think of leaving the wrestling mat, he toured until 1941, until he was seventy. In November 1939, in the Kremlin, for truly outstanding services "in the development of Soviet sports," he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. There was already a war going on in Europe, a worldwide "storm" was beginning. The heroic muscles of Poddubny and his successors, among whom were the commanders, personified Soviet power. Ivan Maksimovich served as a prototype for the hero of the film "Wrestler and Clown" (1957). During the years of the German occupation, seventy-year-old Ivan Maksimovich, in order to feed his relatives, was forced to serve as a marker in the city billiard room. After the liberation of Yeysk in 1943 - touring again. In December 1945, when the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Athletic Society was celebrated, Poddubny was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. He was active, corresponded, made appeals, signed as follows: "Russian Bogatyr Ivan Poddubny." In 1947, he performed with the program "50 years in the circus" ... Then there was a broken leg and death from a heart attack. Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny died on August 8, 1949. In the homeland of Poddubny, a marble bust of the "Champion of Champions" was installed. On the monument is carved in gold letters: "Here lies the Russian hero." Since 1962, international classical wrestling competitions for the prize named after I.M. Poddubny have been held annually. An active surge of interest in the "champion of champions" arose a third of a century ago, when its 100th anniversary was celebrated. In the books about Poddubny of that time, we find many white spots, especially during the years of the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. Some disagreements are noticeable regarding his life both in Krasenivka, where he no longer called after the death of his mother, and in Yeysk. Some legends and anecdotes about Poddubny were then classified as legends. But other tales have received a second life, they contain a touch of the socio-political sentiments of their eras. The legend relating to the time of the German occupation is indicative. It was as if Poddubny was walking along Yeysk with an order for show, and he hit the German, who was trying to disrupt the order. Now they suddenly “remembered” something else. It flashed as if under the Germans he kept his billiard room. It must also be said that in the literature about Poddubny there is confusion with dates, starting literally from the year of his birth. Some encyclopedias indicate 1870, this date is still under the sculptural portrait of Poddubny in Krasenivka. "Discordance" in dates occurs more than once and in the future. 55 years after the death of the great wrestler, when much has changed in life, the public need for a serious and profound book about Ivan Poddubny has become tangible. There are personalities to whose life experience people return from generation to generation, as if confirming: without them, the future of the people will not be complete. Such a person, no doubt, is Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny, a nugget from Krasenivka.

The phenomenon of Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny is known all over the world. This is a man who possessed great physical strength. Ivan Poddubny - athlete, professional wrestler, circus performer. Thanks to their amazing abilities he became a legend. His performances collected and delighted a huge number of spectators not only in Russia, but also in different countries peace.

The biography of Ivan Poddubny is full of bright and interesting events.

Family

He was born on October 8, 1871 in the village of Bogodukhovka (now the village of Krasenovka) in the Poltava region in a family of farmers. Ivan was the firstborn. Following him, six more children were born: three boys and three girls. The family lived in poverty. WITH early childhood children were taught to work hard. At the age of twelve, the boy became a laborer, first with a landowner in his village, and then in a neighboring one. For 10 years he worked for the local rich. He was not taken to the army, since he was the eldest of the sons in the family.

From his father, Ivan Poddubny inherited good health, a heroic physique, great strength and endurance. From his mother - an ear for music, thanks to which he was taken to perform in the church choir on Sundays.

Start of a new life

At the age of 22, he moved to the Crimea. He did this for the sake of the girl he loved. She reciprocated his feelings, but she was from a wealthy family, so her parents were against her daughter's marriage to a poor man. Ivan went to the Crimea in order to earn a lot of money, and then return to her. However, after leaving native land He soon forgot about her.

For three years, Ivan Poddubny worked as a loader, first in the port of Sevastopol, and then in Feodosia. Acquaintance with athletes Anton Preobrazhensky and Vasily Vasiliev changed his life. Thanks to these people, he began to seriously engage in sports.

His career as a weightlifter began in 1887, when Beskorovayny's circus arrived in Feodosia. Famous wrestlers Piotr Yankovsky and Georg Lurich worked as part of the circus troupe. With them, everyone could measure their strength. A belt wrestling championship was announced in the circus. Poddubny decided to take part in it. Over the next two weeks, he defeated almost all the circus athletes. Only one wrestler remained undefeated - the giant Peter Yankovsky.

Work in the circus

After this event, Ivan began regular training. The work ceased to satisfy him, and he moved to Sevastopol. Here he works in a troupe of wrestlers, led by Georg Lurich, in the circus of the Italian Truzzi. He studied all the features of belt wrestling, developed a training system for himself. From an ordinary rough peasant, he turned into a real professional athlete.

After some time, Ivan Poddubny was invited to work in the circus of the Nikitin brothers in Kyiv. He began touring with him. During 3 years of work in this circus, he visited all the cities of the European part of Russia. His performances as a wrestler and athlete amazed the audience. Ivan became a celebrity.

"Champion of Champions"

In 1903, the chairman of the St. Petersburg Athletic Society invited him to participate in the World Championship in French wrestling. Ivan began intensive training for this championship under the guidance of a French coach, which lasted three months.

There were 130 participants in the championship. Poddubny won 11 fights, but he lost to the Frenchman Bush. The whole cunning of the insidious enemy was that his body was smeared with olive oil, thanks to which he slipped out of the bear's grip of the Russian hero. After this defeat, the Russian athlete became an opponent of dishonest methods in the ring.

A year later, Ivan Poddubny again met Bush in the ring. The fight lasted 40 minutes, as a result, the Russian athlete won.

In 1905, Ivan again participates in the international championship in Paris. There he becomes the world champion. After this victory, he was involved in competitions in different countries of the world and invariably defeated all rivals.

For 40 years, the athlete has not lost a single championship, for which he was called the "champion of champions."

Termination of an athlete's career

1910 was a turning point in the sports career of the absolute champion. He suddenly decides to leave the sport and start a family. Antonina Kvitko-Fomenko became his wife. The hero spent all his savings on a large house, two mills and an apiary in the Poltava region. However, the landowner from Ivan did not work out. He was illiterate, did not know how to run a household. In addition, his brother, who had become a drunkard, burned down his mill. As a result, Ivan soon went bankrupt.

At the age of 42, Poddubny returns to work in the circus. In Zhytomyr, and later in Kerch, he performs in the arena. In 1922 he was invited to work first in the Moscow and later in the Petrograd Circus. Despite his middle age and physical activity, the wrestler is in good health. Due to the difficult financial situation, Ivan Poddubny agrees to tour America and Germany. The artist's performances were a great success. In 1927 he returned to his homeland.

Personal life of Ivan Poddubny

Ivan's first youthful love was not too long. After leaving her native village, the girl was forgotten by him.

His second love is tightrope walker Emilia. She was older in age, skillfully played on his feelings. After she had a rich suitor, she ran away with him.

After an unsuccessful relationship with Emilia Poddubny moved to Kyiv. There he met the gymnast Masha, who reciprocated the athlete. She was fragile, small in stature, but distinguished by extraordinary courage. Masha performed under the dome of the circus, working on the trapeze without insurance. Together they made plans for the future. life together. The day of the wedding was fixed. But one day, during the next performance, Mashenka fell from a height and crashed. After that tragic event Poddubny left the circus, withdrew into himself. Only after the passage of time, having accepted the invitation to participate in the World Championships in Paris, he was able to return to his former life.

For the first time, Ivan married at the age of 40 to the beautiful Antonina Kvitko-Fomenko. They moved to the Poltava region, started a household. Family life continued for 7 years. But one day, when the athlete was on tour in Odessa, Antonina met an officer and ran away with him, taking her husband's gold medals with her. After some time, she wanted to return to her former spouse, but Ivan could not forgive her betrayal.

last love

Maria Mashoshina became last love legendary athlete. She was a widow, the mother of his disciple. Ivan was fascinated by her beauty, sensuality and friendliness. In 1927, after returning from a tour of America, he married her. He lived with this woman until his last days. They bought a house in Yeysk on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. They did not have common children, but Poddubny was very attached to the son of Mary and treated him with paternal warmth. Foster-son, Ivan Mashoshin, leaving professional wrestling, graduated from a technical university and began working as chief engineer of the Rostov Automobile Assembly Plant. In May 1943, he died during a Nazi air raid. He left a son, Roman, whom Poddubny took care of as his own grandson.

Ivan taught him to play sports, sent him to a sports school, where the boy could engage in classical wrestling. However, during the Great Patriotic War, the grandson went to the front and was seriously wounded. Therefore, in the future, the career of a wrestler had to be abandoned.

At the end of life

In 1941, Ivan entered the ring in last time and traditionally won. He was 70 years old.

During the famine, the athlete had a particularly hard time, since his huge trained body needed food in a much larger volume than rations. His health deteriorated.

In May 1947, Poddubny fell unsuccessfully, as a result of which he received a hip fracture. He was tied to a bed and crutches. For an athlete accustomed to constant exhausting workouts, huge physical activity, bed rest became disastrous.

On August 8, 1949, Ivan Poddubny died of a heart attack. He was buried in the Yeysk park, not far from the graves of the pilots who died during the war. In 1965, this park was named after I. M. Poddubny.

In 1955, a monument was erected on the grave of the great athlete. Not far from the grave is memorial museum, where personal items are stored, unique photos of Ivan Poddubny, posters and other exhibits telling about the life and sports career of this amazing person.

Famous athlete in cinema

When getting acquainted with the biography of Ivan Poddubny briefly, it is noteworthy that, despite world fame, disasters, wanderings and disorder in his personal life did not bypass him. The life story of the legendary strong man formed the basis of the Soviet film "Wrestler and Clown". It was established in 1957. Ivan Poddubny is shown in the film as a person with not only tremendous physical, but also spiritual strength.

In 2014, cinema again turned to this topic. The film "Poddubny" repeated the previous film in many details.

The documentary film “The Tragedy of a Strongman. Ivan Poddubny. It tells about interesting facts from the life of the legendary athlete.

A short biography of Ivan Poddubny is the story of a legendary man who has become an unsurpassed example of sports longevity.

Russian and Soviet wrestler, strongman, circus performer and athlete Ivan Poddubny is a prominent figure in the history of sports around the world. Before XXXI summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Russian athletes were stimulated by the stories of the best athletes, including the life and career of I.M. Poddubny.

short biography

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was born September 26, 1871 V locality Bogodukhovka Poltava province (now Cherkasy region in Ukraine) Russian Empire. He belonged to the family of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks.

From his father, Ivan inherited not hefty strength and endurance. From his mother he got a good ear for music. As a child, he sang in the church choir.

Job

From 12 years old Ivan Poddubny worked: first in a peasant economy, then as a loader in the port of Sevastopol and Feodosia. For about 1 year (1896-1897) he was a clerk.

Wrestling career

In 1896 Ivan entered the big arena for the first time and began to defeat wrestlers known at that time: Lurikha, Razumova, Borodanova, Pappy. Thus began Poddubny's career as a wrestler who became famous all over the world - a six-time "Champion of Champions".

First fight with le Boucher

One of the most famous fights of Poddubny was 2 fights with a French wrestler Raoul le Boucher. Their first fight ended in victory for the Frenchman: Le Boucher used an unfair method of avoiding Poddubny's captures, smearing himself with oil. At the end of the fight, the judges gave him the championship with the wording "for beautiful and skillful escapes from sharp tricks".

Revenge

At a tournament in St. Petersburg, Ivan took revenge on Le Boucher, forced the French wrestler to 20 minutes stay in a knee-elbow position until the judges took pity on the French wrestler and gave the victory to Poddubny.

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". Carpet Poddubny left in 1941 at the age of 70!

Circus athlete and kettlebell lifter

In 1897, Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny began performing in the circus as a weightlifter, athlete, and wrestler. With a circus troupe, he traveled to many countries, traveled to 4 continents.

The period of the war - the story of the godson Poddubny

In the city of Yeysk Krasnodar Territory the godson of Ivan Mikhailovich lives - Yuri Petrovich Korotkov. Poddubny lived there during the war. Around the personality of a famous wrestler, there are many incredible stories and legends associated with the period of the Great Patriotic War.

Stories and legends

Yuri Korotkov confirms some of them, as he witnessed what was happening. For example, the fact that Ivan Mikhailovich walked openly during the occupation of Yeysk by the Germans with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor on his chest. To all the objections of those around him and the fear that they might shoot him, he answered as follows:

"They won't shoot me - they respect me"

Indeed, the Germans respected the elderly wrestler. When our people returned to the city, he was summoned several times for interrogation by the NKVD. Poddubny did not understand what he had done wrong and said that he was being asked ridiculous questions and could not understand that he was a true patriot of his country.

"Holy" Poddubny

Another nickname for Ivan Poddubny - "Saint". Despite the fact that religion was practically banned in the USSR, many of his acquaintances called him a saint.

The reason for this was simple, although it could not have done without some mysticism: Poddubny simply always helping others. And it was when he was around that “miracles” happened. Once, by the laying on of hands, he cured an arrhythmia in one of his acquaintances, and another time, the chronic headaches of a neighbor ...

last years of life

It is believed that after the war, Ivan Maksimovich was starving. However, his godson denies this:

“Poddubny received a good ration. I myself followed him to the meat-packing plant and to the warehouse, where they gave out rations to the military. Poddubny had a capacious bag for this, which he called "gut".

Before last day The "Russian hero" did not lose his strength and endurance: he worked tirelessly around the house, carried water in a 4-bucket container.

Ivan Poddubny died of a heart attack August 8, 1949. His body was buried in Yeysk in the park, which is now named after him. Also in the park there is a monument to him and not far away are the museum and sports school. Poddubny.