Alexander Karelin

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 1987 and 2000. Nicknamed the "Russian Bear", "Russian King Kong", "Alexander the Great", "The Experiment", and the "The Crane from Novosibirsk", he is widely considered to be the greatest and most dominant Greco-Roman wrestler of all time. 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 by a single point. Prior to his final match versus American Rulon Gardner in September 2000 which he lost, 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 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. Karelin 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. He was an avid fan of literature and mathematics during his school years. 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 tall and weighing , 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.