Was Poddubny married? How Ivan Poddubny ended his days

The legendary wrestler Ivan Poddubny was the pride of the national sport, a true national hero. However, he ended his days in poverty, unable to even eat his fill. Although officially death came from a heart attack ...

circus wrestler

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was born on September 26 (October 8, according to a new style), 1871 in Ukraine, in the village of Bogodukhovka, Zolotonosha district, Poltava province, in a large peasant family. All its members were distinguished by strength and health. Father, Maxim Ivanovich, a Zaporozhye Cossack, was a real hero. But at the age of 15, the eldest son, in the fight on sashes, already began to put him on both shoulder blades.

At 22, Ivan left his native village. He worked as a loader in Sevastopol, a clerk in Feodosia. He began to seriously engage in sports, lifting weights, dumbbells ...

In 1897, he got a job as a wrestler in the Truzzi circus, which was working at that time in Sevastopol. One of Poddubny's tricks was as follows: they put a telegraph on his shoulders

a pole, on each side of which ten people hung. As a result, the pole broke ...

Then there was work in the Nikitin circus, and since 1903 - classes in French and Greco-Roman wrestling. After moving to Kyiv, Poddubny began to train at the club of athletes. By 1903 he had become a professional belt wrestler.

In the Kiev circus, Ivan began an affair with gymnast Masha Dozmarova. They were going to get married, but shortly before the planned wedding, the girl died, falling off the trapeze - she worked without insurance ...

The fate of the winner

After the tragedy, Poddubny left the circus and even wanted to leave the sport. But then he received an invitation to the World Cup in France. The 35-year-old Poddubny lost to his opponent, the 20-year-old champion of Paris Raoul le Boucher. But soon, at the championship in Moscow, he defeated the strongest rivals - Shemyakin, Lurich, Yankovsky. And later, at the international championship in St. Petersburg, Le Boucher also put it down, receiving the first prize and 55 thousand rubles - a huge amount for those times.

Performances at the championships in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Tunisia, Algeria followed. Everywhere Poddubny took first place, never once agreeing to "fixed fights".

In 1910 Ivan decided to leave sports career and return to his native village, even bought land there, started a farm, got married ... But three years later he could not stand it and returned to the carpet.

The years after the revolution were not easy for the athlete. Although he was not involved in politics, but continued to fight in the ring, he was arrested by Odessa Chekists, mistaking him for a certain Poddubnov, the organizer Jewish pogroms. True, then they figured it out and released. But during this time, the wife of Poddubny Antonin went to another.

In 1922, while on tour with the Moscow Circus in Rostov-on-Don, Poddubny met his future second wife, Maria Semyonovna Mashonina. It was necessary to feed his family, he continued to travel on tour, again visited Germany and even America ... The Americans persuaded him to stay with them, acted with persuasion and threats ... But despite this, in 1927 Ivan returned to his homeland. In 1939 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in the Kremlin. He also received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Hunger and death

The war found Poddubny in Yeysk, which was occupied by the Germans. Having heard about the famous wrestler, the invaders did not touch him and offered to move to Germany to train German athletes. And after the refusal, they arranged the old man as a marker in the billiard room so that he could earn his living. Part-time, he worked as a bouncer in a bar for the German military.

After the war, Poddubny was checked as being in the occupied territory, but nothing "seditious" was found. In 1945, he was even awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. Despite his advanced age, he continued to train, constantly walking with a pound steel cane.

In the post-war period, Poddubny was given a special ration. But alas, it would be enough ordinary person, and the athlete needed a large amount of vitamins, proteins and minerals. Under the rationing system, he literally starved, had to sell his medals in order to buy food ... The state, apparently, considered that the debt to the legendary wrestler was fully paid, and ceased to be interested in him, leaving it to himself.

Having fallen on the street and breaking his hip, Ivan Maksimovich began to move around on crutches. He never managed to recover: on August 8, 1949, he died of a heart attack.

On the monument erected on the grave of Poddubny in Yeysk, the words are carved: "Here lies the Russian hero."

Today we want to tell you amazing story one invincible wrestler and athlete of the early 20th century, who was called the "Russian Bear". His real name was Ivan Poddubny, and he chose the goal of his life to become one of the strongest athletes in the world for a reason.

The son of a grain grower, a simple Black Sea loader, Ivan Poddubny eventually became the "king of the circus arena", fought in the largest arenas of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. For decades, Poddubny won brilliant victories over all the strongest professional wrestlers in the world, for which he was recognized as the "champion of champions".

A family
Ivan Poddubny was born in 1871, in the family of a hereditary Zaporozhye Cossack Maxim Ivanovich Poddubny.

His whole family was famous for its strength. He inherited from his ancestors a big increase, phenomenal strength and extraordinary endurance.

All his life he was proud that he belonged to the Cossack family.

Family of Ivan Poddubny: mother, father, brother and nephew.

With brother Mitrofan Maksimovich.

First steps in sports
At the age of 20, Ivan went to seek his fortune in the city. According to legend, the reason for this was unhappy love. A wealthy neighbor flatly refused to pass off his beautiful daughter as a "poor man".

Poddubny got a job as a port loader, first in Sevastopol, and then in Feodosia.

As is often the case, chance changed everything. The circus of Ivan Beskaravainy arrived in Feodosia.

An integral part of circus performances at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries were performances of strong men and fighting fights.

So in the circus of Beskaravayny there were wrestlers, with whom everyone was invited to compete.

Ivan, confident that he would not yield to the strongmen from the circus, tried his hand and ... lost.

Ivan was overwhelmed with excitement and a desire to prove that he can become the best.

He began to systematically train, study the technique of wrestling, and after a while he entered the circus arena, where he defeated several athletes famous at that time.

After that, he was hired by Enrico Truzzi's circus. Thus, at the age of 27, the brilliant career of Ivan Poddubny began.

Poddubny was soon talked about all over Russia, because he had no equal in the traditional Russian wrestling on sashes.

However, French wrestling was much more popular in the world. Poddubny switched to her and in 1903 received an offer to represent Russia at the world championship in Paris.

"Russian Bear" Poddubny went through 11 opponents like a hurricane until he met with the idol of the French public, Raoul le Boucher. The fight with the French almost turned Poddubny away from the fight forever. The Frenchman, unable to take Poddubny with the first onslaught, began to frankly run away from him. In addition, it turned out that he was smeared with a fatty substance that interfered with making grips. When Poddubny drew the attention of the judges to this, they only shrugged their shoulders. And after an hour of fighting, the victory was given to Le Boucher "for beautiful and skillful avoidance of sharp tricks."

This decision angered even the French public, and Poddubny, shocked by such dishonesty, wanted to completely end his wrestling career.

Le Boucher was rewarded at the international championship in St. Petersburg, where he again met with Poddubny. Revenge was cruel - the Russian fighter turned the Frenchman as he wanted. After this defeat, the Frenchman had a real hysteria. The tournament was won by Poddubny.

By 1910, the wrestler, who had won everything, earned a lot of money, was tired of the world of professional wrestling and decided to end his career.

He left for his homeland, bought a house, land and began to manage the household.

Personal life
In love affairs, the giant was disastrously unlucky. At the very beginning of his career in the circus, Poddubny fell in love with a 40-year-old Hungarian tightrope walker. Ivan was ready to marry her, but the Hungarian soon found herself a new boyfriend.

Then there was an affair with gymnast Masha Dozmarova. It was an amazing couple - a huge strong man and a fragile, almost airy girl. But on the eve of the wedding, a tragedy happened - Masha fell from under the dome of the circus and crashed to death.

Poddubny's first wife was Antonina Kvitko-Fomenko. She squandered a significant part of her husband's fortune. And at the height of the civil war, she completely fled, taking with her part of her husband's medals.

In 1922, Poddubny married the mother of a young wrestler Ivan Mashonin, Maria Semyonovna, and in this marriage he finally found peace.

FROM adopted son Ivan Mashonin.

On the eve of the First World War, Poddubny returned to the circus, as his finances, due to the exorbitant requests of his first wife Antonina, sang romances. And again began to win one victory after another.

He performed in the years civil war, although this time in his biography is perhaps the most mysterious page. Only one thing is known for sure - the simple-minded giant was too far from politics to join any of the parties, and at the same time he was equally warmly welcomed by whites, and reds, and greens.

Tour
In 1924, Ivan Poddubny received permission to go on a long tour of Germany and the United States.

Surprisingly, the fact is that the wrestler, who was well over 50, was in no way inferior to young rivals who were fit for his sons.

“The other day I had dinner with Poddubny, a man of great strength and the same stupidity,” the famous Russian writer Alexander Kuprin gave this characteristic to the athlete.

The great wrestler was really incredibly naive, which was used by those around him. When Poddubny, who was missing his homeland, was going home, the Americans actually deprived him of all the fees he earned - they say they still remain somewhere in American bank accounts to this day.

Nevertheless, in the USSR, Poddubny was greeted as a real hero. Upon his return, the wrestler announced that he was ending his career.

He planned to promote wrestling.

Announced, and ... did not complete. He had his last fight on the wrestling mat in 1941, at the age of 70. History does not know another similar example of sports longevity in this sport.

War years
In 1939, 68-year-old Poddubny participated in the parade of athletes on Red Square, and in the same year he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Poddubny wore this award with pride, practically without taking it off, which a few years later almost cost him his life.

He settled in the small town of Yeysk on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. When the Germans occupied Yeysk during the war, the wrestler refused to leave anywhere, saying that he had little time left to live, and there was no point in running away.

Once a German patrol detained an elderly giant with a Soviet order on his chest on the streets of Yeysk. The Nazis were taken aback by such impudence, and were even more surprised to find out who was in front of them.

The glory of Poddubny was so great that the invaders did not touch him or his order, and, moreover, they offered to move to Germany to train German athletes.

The strong man answered with a resolute "no", saying: "I am a Russian wrestler, and I will remain one."

The Germans shrugged their shoulders and... left him alone. Moreover, so that the strong man could earn a living, they gave him a place as a marker in the billiard room.

Part-time Poddubny worked as a bouncer in a bar for the Nazis. This, of course, was complete surrealism: an elderly giant with a Soviet order on his chest threw drunk Germans out into the street with one hand.

And the Aryans, who had sobered up the next morning, boasted in letters home: "You know, dear, Ivan Poddubny himself threw me out of the bar yesterday."

last years of life
In 1945, Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. This was already the second title of Poddubny - in 1939, as a circus performer, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Alas, all these titles did not help Poddubny in the post-war years. No, he was not persecuted for political reasons, the trouble was elsewhere - for normal life the giant needed significantly more food than the average person.

AT last years Poddubny sold his medals to buy groceries.

Once, returning from the market, he fell, having received a fracture of the neck of the femur, since then the hero moved only on crutches.

Exhibits of the Poddubny Memorial Museum in Yeysk.

Monument to Poddubny in Yeysk.

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny died on August 8, 1949 from a heart attack and was buried in a city park, next to the graves of soldiers who fell in the Great Patriotic War.

Later, a large tombstone was erected on his grave, on which it is written: "Here lies a Russian hero."

Having passed ordeal Having known great glory, having experienced love and betrayal, Ivan Poddubny remained the same as he was at the beginning - a hero with the innocence and naivety of a child.

He was called "Ivan Zhelezny" and "Champion of Champions", "Russian Bogatyr".

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 great stature, phenomenal strength and extraordinary endurance from his ancestors, and through his 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.

During the Civil War, he 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“ American Champion. ”The six-time world champion among professionals impressed everyone not only with his phenomenal strength and skill, but also sports longevity, because he was 55 in 1926. 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, the famous artist Nikolai Strunnikov, painted his portrait, which depicted Poddubny as a Zaporozhye Cossack. It is kept in the Dnepropetrovsk Historical Museum.
During the occupation of Yeysk 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 the Feodosia seaport, launched in Taganrog in 1972.
In wrestling circles, a legend is told about how in 1905 in Paris, after the end of the Russian-Japanese war, Poddubny came into conflict with a 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 a high level of combat technique, the Japanese easily coped with all the attacks of Poddubny, who could only rely on wrestling techniques and on 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 him through the knee femur. However, there is no documentary evidence of this story, although it was voiced in documentary Alexandra Smirnova "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

He seemed to come out of the myths about Hercules or from the epics about Ilya Muromets. The story of his life causes skepticism among many - well, this cannot be, it is implausible.

He was born in Russian Empire, shone in the arenas of Europe and America, survived the German occupation, and at the end of his life he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR ... How all this fit into the life of one person is incomprehensible to the mind.

But, having gone through difficult trials, having known great glory, having experienced love and betrayal, Ivan Poddubny remained the same as he was at the beginning - a hero with the innocence and naivety of a child.

Russian professional wrestler and athlete Ivan Poddubny. Photo: RIA Novosti

He was born on September 26 (October 8, according to a new style), 1871, in the village of Bogodukhovka in the Poltava region, into a Cossack family.

The Poddubny family was famous physical force and power, and Vanya went to the ancestors. But if he inherited strength and endurance from his father, then from his mother - a delicate ear for music. This subsequently amazed contemporaries - this musicality did not combine with the appearance of a strong man.

The strength of the Poddubny family did not make them rich, therefore, from an early age, Ivan joined the heavy physical labor, from the age of 12 worked as a laborer.

In his early twenties, Ivan went to seek his fortune in the city. According to legend, unhappy love was the reason for this - a rich neighbor flatly refused to marry his daughter to the "hungry man".

Strongman Poddubny easily got a job as a port loader, first in Sevastopol, and then in Feodosia, and did not think about any other career.

Thirst for the fight

As is often the case, chance changed everything. The circus came to Feodosia Ivan Beskaravayny. An integral part of the circus performances at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries were performances of strongmen and wrestling fights. Here and in the circus of Beskaravayny there were wrestlers with whom it was proposed to compete with everyone.

Ivan, confident that he would not yield to the strongmen from the circus, tried his hand and ... unconditionally lost.

It was then that he realized that wrestling is not just a rivalry between strong people from birth, but a whole science.

Ivan was overwhelmed with excitement and a desire to prove that he can become the best.

He began to systematically train, study the technique of wrestling, and soon re-entered the circus arena, where he won several victories over well-known athletes at that time.

After that, he was hired as a professional wrestler in Enrico Truzzi's circus. Thus, at the age of 27, the brilliant career of Ivan Poddubny began.

Like most wrestlers at that time, he combined several roles. Poddubny demonstrated power tricks, for example, this one: they put a telegraph pole on his shoulders, on which ten people hung on both sides and, as a result, as a rule, the pole broke. The audience gasped in delight.

But the main spectacle, of course, was the fight. All of Russia soon spoke about Poddubny, since he had no equal in the traditional Russian wrestling on sashes.

Referee - scoundrel!

However, French wrestling, which was later called first classical and then Greco-Roman, was much more popular in the world. Poddubny switched to her, and in 1903 he received an offer to represent Russia at the world championship in Paris.

The conditions of the tournament, in which 130 wrestlers participated, were very tough - the loser of at least one fight was eliminated. The “Russian Bear” Poddubny went through 11 opponents like a hurricane until he met with the idol of the French public, Raoul le Boucher.

The fight with the French almost turned Poddubny away from the fight forever. Fights at that time could last for several hours, until one of the rivals was laid on the shoulder blades. The Frenchman, unable to take Poddubny with the first onslaught, began to frankly run away from him. In addition, it turned out that he was smeared with a fatty substance that interferes with grips - this dishonest method, by the way, is still used by wrestlers. When Poddubny drew the attention of the judges to this, they only shrugged their shoulders. And after an hour of fighting, the victory was given to Le Boucher "for beautiful and skillful avoidance of sharp tricks."

This decision angered even the French public, and Poddubny, shocked by such dishonesty, wanted to completely end his wrestling career.

Friends and colleagues hardly managed to convince the giant. But I must say that Poddubny, by virtue of his nature, was extremely inconvenient for the organizers of wrestling fights - he basically did not conduct “fixed” fights and did not take bribes. Because of this, a couple of times his opponents even tried to organize the murder of Poddubny, but, fortunately, these plans fell through.

Why was Poddubny not an Olympic champion?

Le Boucher was rewarded at the international championship in St. Petersburg, where he again met with Poddubny. Revenge was cruel - the Russian wrestler twirled the Frenchman as he wanted. For twenty minutes, he held the opponent, excuse me, in a knee-elbow position, to the whistling and hooting of the public, until the judges took pity on Le Boucher. After this defeat, the French wrestler had a real tantrum.

The tournament was won by Poddubny, who defeated another Frenchman, world champion Paul Pons, in the final in a two-hour fight.

With titles at that time, everything was quite difficult. In professional wrestling, in one city or another, the tournament was announced as the “world championship”. Poddubny won almost everywhere, but it’s quite difficult to understand exactly how many times he was the world champion.

But it is known that in the period from 1905 to 1908 he invariably won the most prestigious of the tournaments - the world championship in French wrestling in Paris.

At that time, the Olympics were already gaining popularity, the program of which included wrestling, but Poddubny was ordered to go there. The Olympics were then exclusively the lot of amateur athletes, and Poddubny was a professional.

“But with personal ... Well, only with personal - hello ...”

By 1910, the wrestler, who had won everything, earned a lot of money, was tired of the world of professional wrestling and decided to end his career. He left for his homeland, bought a house, land and began to manage the household.

However, the businessman from Poddubny was useless, moreover, his wife's requests quickly reduced his financial capital.

In general, in love affairs, the giant was disastrously unlucky. At the very beginning of his career in the circus, Poddubny fell in love with a 40-year-old Hungarian tightrope walker, an experienced and temperamental woman. Ivan was ready to marry her, but the Hungarian soon found herself a new boyfriend.

Then there was an affair with gymnast Masha Dozmarova. It was an amazing couple - a huge strong man and a fragile, almost airy girl. But on the eve of the wedding, a tragedy happened - Masha fell from under the dome of the circus and crashed to death.

The first wife of Poddubny was Antonina Kvitko-Fomenko, and it was she who squandered everything that her husband earned, and at the height of the Civil War, she completely fled, taking with her part of her husband's medals.

In 1922, Poddubny married the mother of a young wrestler Ivan Mashonin, Maria Semyonovna, and in this marriage he finally found personal peace.

Monument to Ivan Poddubny in Yeysk. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Karachun

American voyage of the "Russian bear"

On the eve of the First World War, Poddubny, whose finances sang romances thanks to Antonina, returned to the circus and again began to win victory after victory.

He also performed during the years of the Civil War, although this time in his biography is perhaps the most mysterious page. Only one thing is known for sure - the simple-minded giant was too far from politics to join any of the parties, and at the same time he was equally warmly welcomed by whites, and reds, and greens.

Already at the very end of the war in Odessa, Poddubny was almost shot by the Reds - the Chekists confused him with the organizer of Jewish pogroms by the name of Poddubnov, but, fortunately, they figured it out in time.

In 1922, Ivan Poddubny began performing at the Moscow Circus. Doctors examine the 51-year-old wrestler and make a helpless gesture - there are no complaints, his health is excellent.

In 1924, Ivan Poddubny received permission to go on a long tour of Germany and the United States.

Surprisingly, the fact is that the wrestler, who was well over 50, was in no way inferior to rivals who were fit for him not only as sons, but even as grandchildren.

In the USA, where the rules of wrestling were far from European and more like a street fight. Poddubny, however, quickly got used to it and continued to win, collecting full halls in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco.

“The other day I had dinner with Poddubny, a man of great strength and the same stupidity,” this characterization of the athlete was given not by anyone, but by the famous Russian writer Alexander Kuprin. The great wrestler was really incredibly naive, which was used by those around him. When Poddubny, who missed his homeland, went home, the Americans actually deprived him of the fees he earned - they say they still remain somewhere in American bank accounts.

How Poddubny worked as a bouncer for the Germans

Nevertheless, in the USSR, Poddubny was greeted as a hero. Upon his return, the wrestler announced that he had completed his career and would henceforth be engaged in the popularization of wrestling.

Announced, and ... did not complete. He had his last fight on the wrestling mat in 1941, at the age of 70. History does not know another similar example of sports longevity in this sport.

In 1939, 68-year-old Ivan Poddubny participated in the parade of athletes on Red Square, and in the same year he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Poddubny wore this award with pride, practically without taking it off, which a few years later almost cost him his life.

He settled in the small town of Yeysk on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. From many years of overload, the heart began to fool around, but Poddubny did not go to the doctors, preferring folk medicine. When the war began and the Germans occupied Yeysk, the wrestler refused to evacuate anywhere, saying that he had little time left to live and there was no point in running.

Once a German patrol detained an elderly giant with a Soviet order on his chest on Yeisk Street. The Nazis were taken aback by such impudence, but they were even more taken aback when they found out who was in front of them.

The glory of Poddubny was so great that the invaders did not touch him or his award and, moreover, offered to move to Germany to train German athletes there.

If Poddubny had been more cunning, he probably would have thought before refusing, but the strong man immediately answered with a resolute “no”.

The Germans shrugged their shoulders and ... left Poddubny alone. Moreover, in order for the strong man to earn a living, they gave him a place as a marker in the billiard room.

Part-time Poddubny worked as a bouncer in a bar for the Nazi military.

This, of course, was complete surrealism: an elderly giant with a Soviet order on his chest with one hand throws out drunk soldiers of the Fuhrer into the street. And the Aryans, sober in the morning, run not to deal with the “Russian pig”, but to write a letter to their wife: “You know, dear, Ivan Poddubny himself threw me out into the street yesterday!”.

Bust of Ivan Poddubny in Yeysk. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / GennadyL

The giant was crippled by hunger

After the liberation of Yeysk, the state security agencies conducted an inspection regarding Poddubny's cooperation with the Germans and ... did not find crime, believing that the retired fighter had not betrayed his homeland in any way, and "commerce is just commerce."

Moreover, in 1945 Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. This was already the second title of Poddubny - in 1939, as a circus performer, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Alas, all these titles did not help Poddubny in the post-war years. No, he was not persecuted for political reasons, the trouble was different - for a normal life, the giant needed much more food than an ordinary person, and with the rationing system it was almost impossible to solve this problem.

Poddubny turned to the local authorities, they helped in any way they could, but this was clearly not enough. In recent years, Poddubny has been selling off his medals to buy groceries.

Perhaps if he had lived in Moscow, everything would have turned out differently, but in little Yeysk the wrestler was left to himself.

Once, returning from the market, he fell, having received a fracture of the femoral neck. Since then, the famous hero walked only on crutches.

Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny died of a heart attack on August 8, 1949 and was buried in a city park, next to the graves of soldiers who fell in the Great Patriotic War.

Later, a large granite stone was installed on his grave, on which it is written: "Here lies the Russian hero."

Review of the film about Ivan Poddubny with Mikhail Porechenkov in leading role read >>

And the head of the Memorial Museum of I. M. Poddubny (Yeisk Krasnodar Territory) Natalya GINKUL told AiF about those pages of Poddubny's life, about which very little is known - about how Ivan Maksimovich got along with different authorities.

Makhno and Cheka

From 1910 to 1912, Poddubny did not engage in professional sports - he was tired of nomadic life. He lived at home, bought land in the Poltava province, built two mills ... But things did not work out, besides, brother Mitrofan burned one of them drunk.

Since 1913, Poddubny has been on the arena again, even the First World War. But with the beginning of the Civil War, there is less and less accurate data about Poddubny, and more and more legends about him. It is known that he is touring again, performing in the circuses of Zhytomyr and Kerch, in territories controlled by both whites and reds. There is, for example, a legend about how Ivan Maksimovich got to the Makhnovists and fought in Berdyansk with the strongest Makhnovist - a certain Gritsko. Poddubny, of course, laid him on both shoulder blades, which upset Nestor Makhno a lot.

They said that once he was almost shot by mistake in the Odessa Cheka - they took him for the organizer of Jewish pogroms by the name of Poddubov, who was also a fighter ...

About that period, it is more or less precisely known only that in 1920 his first wife, Antonina Kvitko-Fomenko, left Ivan. It seems that she ran away with some white officer, taking most of her husband's gold awards. During the Civil War, Poddubny did not take either side. Apparently, the famous wrestler did not fully understand why some Russian people kill others with such frenzy.

After the Civil War, Poddubny worked in circuses in Moscow and Leningrad. In the 1st Moscow Circus, during a benefit performance, for example, he demonstrated the following trick: a wooden telegraph pole was placed on his shoulders, and those who wished from the public clung to the ends of this pole. They were "strung" until, under their weight, the column broke like a match.

In 1924, Poddubny toured Germany, and in 1925, having signed a two-year contract with an American entrepreneur, he left for the United States. For two years, Poddubny, with the consent of the State Circus, worked in the New World, representing there Soviet Union. There were no diplomatic relations between our countries then. According to Poddubny's memoirs, the American public differed from the domestic one in somewhat greater excitement and thirst for blood: it is no coincidence that their current fights without rules - wrestling - grew out of freestyle american wrestling. Poddubny was a six-time world champion in French wrestling, which later became known as classical, and now Greco-Roman. Nevertheless, Poddubny quickly mastered the tougher techniques of American freestyle wrestling - the tour was a great success. He lost only once - to American champion Joe Stecker.

Billiards and Germans...

Shortly before the war, Poddubny settled in Yeysk on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. From August 42nd to February 43rd, the town was occupied by German and Romanian troops. Poddubny stayed at home - either he didn’t have time, or he didn’t want to evacuate. He worked as a marker in a billiard room, opened in the city with the permission of the occupation authorities. Allegedly, the Germans themselves offered this job to Poddubny - many Wehrmacht officers as boys ran to the performances of the hero from Soviet Russia and remembered him for life. But for this period, there is also a problem with documents - you can only rely on eyewitness accounts. For example, Evgeny Kotenko, the current first vice-president of the Academy of Mining Sciences, who was 12 years old in 1942, said that when tipsy Germans began to buzz in the billiard room, Poddubny took them by the collar and threw them out like naughty kittens. At the same time, the Germans were allegedly even proud that it was not an obscure bouncer who put them out the door, but Poddubny himself. Considering that, according to numerous eyewitness accounts, Ivan Maksimovich openly wore the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, received in 1939 from the hands of Kalinin, on his chest throughout the occupation ...

... and again security officers

Oddly enough, after the liberation of Yeysk, the NKGB authorities did not apply repressions to Ivan Maksimovich. We have documents that I. M. Poddubny passed the appropriate check and was not noticed in any discrediting acts. So the rumors that after the war the Soviet authorities almost deliberately starved him to death are not true. It's just that the powerful organism of a professional wrestler required only calories, while the card system, which lasted in the USSR until the end of 1947, offered completely different ones. AT better times Poddubny ate two loaves of bread at dinner, and according to the card, dependents and children (Poddubny no longer worked - in 1945 he was 74 years old) were given 400 g per day. Poddubny even received additional rations from the authorities, however, he could eat sugar for a month in a day ... He and his wife (Poddubny married a second time in 1924) did not experience any special need for money - in their big house, which has survived to this day, quite often tenants rented housing. After the death of Poddubny from a heart attack in 1949, by decision local authorities buried in the city park, which now bears his name. In the 71st, on the centenary of Ivan Maksimovich, the Poddubny Museum was opened nearby.