QOTD
"I train every day of my life as they have never trained a day in theirs."
- Alexander Karelin
Karelin is the 6'4" 285 lb former super-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler who dominated international competition throughout his career: 12 European Championships, 9 World Championships, and 3 Olympic gold medals. Not only did the Russian win every match he entered over 13 years, he went 10 years without giving up a single point. He was noted for being a poet, an opera buff, a Ph.D., an army officer, and a member of parliament.
Among many nicknames, one of the more famous was "The Experiment". Asked why he thought people called him that, a name more evocative of Russian science institutions and physiological manipulation than hard work and training, he responded with the above quote.
The application of extension, as Brian noted: Karelin was famed and feared for his "Karelin lift", a reverse body lift and suplex which entailed him getting his 250#-plus opponent from flat on his stomach up in the air - often upside down - then throwing him up and over, often onto his head.
3 comments:
Scary dude. Unbelievable record; feel bad for the American who has lost to him 22 times. Gotta wear on you after awhile.
It was Karelin's surprising defeat in what was to be his crowning retirement victory at the 2000 Olympics that made the name of another American wrestler, Rulon Gardner (who is another interesting story).
What is amazing to me is how Karelin looks like a scaled up, large proportioned middleweight. Almost all his opponents have a good amount of fat on them. Some say Gardner won in part because Karelin couldn't get his arms firmly around him.
Scary indeed - several opponents allowed themselves to be pinned, rather than risk being tossed on their heads. Gardner, in his only other previous match with Karelin, was thrown and broke several vertebrae.
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