Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin (; born 19 September 1967) is a Russian politician and retired athlete.
Karelin competed in Greco-Roman wrestling, representing the Soviet Union and Russia between 1986 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 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 was 887 wins and two losses, both considered controversial and both by a single point. 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, winning nine gold medals, and he won twelve gold medals at the European Championships. His twelve gold medals at the world level are the most in men’s wrestling history across both freestyle and Greco-Roman disciplines. Karelin's thirteen total world-level medals are tied for the all-time record in men’s wrestling history, along with American wrestler Bruce Baumgartner. He 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.
Due to his dominance and accomplishments, he was named the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of the 20th century by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), and is part 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. Four times he was awarded the "Golden Belt" as the best wrestler of the planet by FILA – in 1989, 1990, 1992, and 1994.
In addition to his success in wrestling, Karelin was a sambo champion during his service in the Internal Troops and participated in a strongman contest. In 1999, he competed in a mixed martial arts bout, defeating Akira Maeda by unanimous decision, though the bout is seen as a work. He was named a Hero of the Russian Federation in 1996. He entered politics in 1999, being elected a deputy of the State Duma that year. He sat in the Duma through various convocations until 2020, when he entered the Federation Council as a senator.
Wrestling career Karelin was born as a baby.Александр Карелин: Борьба – это условие жизни . karelin.ru. 25 October 2013. The 6.8 kg figure reported by the Time journal was an exaggeration КАРЕЛИН Александр Александрович . biograph.ru He was an avid fan of literature and mathematics during his school years. His father introduced him to strength training, giving him a kettlebell and sledgehammer and placing a truck tire in the yard for exercise. As a schoolboy, Karelin also loaded coal, gathered firewood, and cared for the family's livestock while his parents worked, which he credited his father with helping him develop his character. He began training in 1981, under Viktor Kuznetsov, who remained his coach through his entire career.Kareline, Alexandre (RUS) . iat.uni-leipzig.de He initially started boxing, following in the footsteps of his father, until he decided against it. He also tried weightlifting, skiing, basketball, volleyball and swimming, excelling in all the sports he tried.Александр Карелин – гордость нашего спорта, колоритная личность, великий спортсмен, который и в 46 лет держит себя в великолепной форме! Поговорим о секретах успеха русского богатыря . fizvosp.ru. 21 March 2014. Being naturally very big, he came to a wrestling gym, aged 13, standing tall and weighing ,Karelin: Legends Live On (Documentary). Olympic Channel, 5 April 2018. Karelin grew physically very fast and from 16 years of age throughout his entire career he competed in the super heavyweight division. Karelin was named Master of Sport of the USSR in 1984 and Master of Sport of the USSR, International Class by the age of 18 in 1985. Karelin won gold at Friendship-84 in Greco-Roman wrestling as a junior. In 1986, he competed in 14 tournaments, winning all of them. In 1985 and 1987, Karelin won the World Junior Championship, and in 1986, won the European Junior Championship.
Karelin had his first loss (score 0–1) at the senior level at the USSR championships in 1987, to the reigning Russian and European champion Igor Rostorotsky, which was considered controversial; he then defeated Rostorotsky at the next USSR Championships, while recovering from a flu and a recent concussion, by fall, and again in a match that would decide which of the two would go to the Summer Olympics, winning 2–0, effectively retiring Rostorotsky.
Karelin was a 13-time national champion of the USSR, CIS, and Russia from 1988 to 2000, with these national championships being regarded as hard to win as the European Championships, and arguably higher in level than the World Championships. 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.
In the 1988 Olympic final Karelin beat Rangel Gerovski, by executing 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. After his first Olympic victory, Karelin was named Honored Master of Sport of the USSR in 1988. At the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Karelin won one of the fastest Olympic wrestling matches, pinning Ioan Grigoraş in only 14 seconds. 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.Jack McCallum (27 September 2000) Unheralded American slays Russian wrestling legend. Sports Illustrated.
In 1995, the IV International Alexander Karelin Prize Tournament, also known as the Karelin Cup, was held in Novosibirsk. Karelin won, beating Matt Ghaffari in the final. Karelin is also a five-time winner of the International Tournament in Memory of Ivan Poddubny. Karelin won the World Championships nine times and the European Championships twelve times.
After going 13 years undefeated in international competition and six years without giving up a point, he eventually lost 0–1 to Rulon Gardner of the United States in the final of the Sydney Olympics.The Sporting News, Miracle on the mat – wrestler Rulon Gardner wins the gold medal in the Olympics, 9 October 2000 Karelin had previously beaten Gardner in 1997 with a score of 5–0 and throwing him three times. 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."Alexander Karelin" in The World's Five Greatest Athletes No One Knows . drjudd.ne Karelin retired from competitions in 2000.
Thus his only two losses at the senior level were in finals, those ultimately being the 1987 USSR Championships to Rostorotsky, and 2000 Summer Olympics to Gardner. However, both of his losses are considered controversial, with him also 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 lost a few matches at the junior level, but his senior level record was an astounding 887–2.
Karelin was dominant against his rivals, having a record of 11–0 against Swedish wrestler Tomas Johansson with a combined score of 74–1. He had a record of 23–0 against American wrestler Matt Ghaffari.
Karelin holds the record for most world-level gold medals at 12, the most for either freestyle or Greco-Roman wrestling in men's competitions, and also holds the joint-record for most medals at the world-level, with 13, which is tied with the American wrestler Bruce Baumgartner.
Karelin twice was the winner of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, in 1986 and 1991.
Training style Karelin was revered for his extraordinary strength and unprecedented success in international competition. He competed in the heaviest weight class of his day, 130 kg (286 lb). His coach was at first skeptical about a big but undeveloped boy, yet he accepted Karelin and motivated him for hard training, both in wrestling technique and physical strength. As a result, over the years Karelin progressed from 0 to 42 pull-ups.Dawidoff, Nicholas (13 May 1991) A Bruiser and a Thinker: Soviet Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin is a rare combination of massive physique and imposing intellect. Sports Illustrated His conditioning and quickness combined with his dominance of the sport, led to him being known as "The Experiment". When asked why he thought he was called that (referring to a biased opinion on his alleged PED use), Karelin noted that: "No one can completely believe that I am natural. The most important drug is to train like a madman – really like a madman. The people who accuse me are those who have never trained once in their life like I train every day of my life."
Karelin's daily training drills included hours of rowing and long runs through Taiga forest often with a large log on his back. He favored the overhead press and also used standard 2-pood kettlebells () for arm exercises at a daily weight routine. He would clean and press over . He would reportedly do 10 reps of of Zercher deadlifts. Karelin would routinely bench press or more as part of his workout. Despite his large physique, he was flexible and agile enough to do backflips and splits. Tuomo Karila, a Finnish Greco-Roman wrestler, noted that even for a heavyweight Karelin was remarkably strong and that he was unusually agile and fluid for his size, and recalled that Karelin was able to do around 50 chin-ups. Freestyle wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Anatoly Beloglazov recalled that despite his large frame, Karelin moved "like a small guy" while playing football, handling the ball well and being unusually fast for a heavyweight. He also noted that Karelin trained with very heavy weights and rapidly developed physical strength, and that Karelin could climb a rope as quickly as much lighter wrestlers and had no equal in the exercise despite Karelin weighing far more, stating that "he was so powerful". When asked about his toughest opponent, Karelin instantly replied: "My refrigerator," referring to the time for which he bear hugged his refrigerator, weighing over 500 lbs, and carried it up through eight flights of stairs of his hometown 9-storied apartment building.
Wrestling style