Ivan Yarygin

Ivan Sergeyevich Yarygin (Иван Сергеевич Ярыгин; 7 November 1948 – 11 October 1997) was a Soviet and Russian heavyweight freestyle wrestler.

As a teenager he wanted to become a football goalkeeper, and took up wrestling only in 1966, aged 18.

He then was drafted and went on to win the Soviet Armed Forces heavyweight championships in Sambo wrestling, gaining the Master of Sports degree in Sambo.

He then switched to freestyle wrestling, and won 1968 RSFSR national youth championships and 1969 Soviet youth championships.

Between 1970 and 1980 he won all his major international competitions, except for the 1970 and 1974 European championships where he placed second.

In 1970, he won the Soviet title competing in senior division, beating his main rival Vladimir Gulyutkin; he lost to Gulyutkin in 1971, but beat him again at the 1972 Olympic Trials and was selected for the Munich Olympics.

At the Olympics he won all five bouts by fall, spending on the mat a little more than 7 minutes instead of 45.

Yarygin was an Olympic champion in 1972 and 1976, being the first wrestler to go through an Olympic competition with straight pin victories and no foul points, a world champion in 1973, a World Cup winner five times, has never lost a single match in World Cup competition, and a European champion in 1972 and 1975–76, and won a world cup in 1973, 1976–77 and 1979–80.

He also set a record for the fastest pin victory in the World Cup history at 27 seconds.

Three months prior to the Olympics, he won the 1972 European Championships, winning all bouts by fall.

When first appeared in the United States for the 1973 World Cup and the subsequent wrestling tour, the U.S.—Soviet Olympic freestyle wrestling exhibition, where he and the USSR National Wrestling Team met the United States National Team (composed of both National AAU, Athletes in Action and NCAA Wrestling Team Championship winners,) the American press described him as "a blue-eyed, red-haired, 24-year-old wrestler from the Soviet Union who spreads 220 pounds over an awesome, statuesque frame that might have been hammered and chiseled out of a granite block cornerstone from the Tomb of Lenin."

He was a flagbearer for the Soviet wrestling team while on the U.S. tour.

When Yarygin wrestled Russell Hellickson (whom he had his shoulder disclocated at their previous match-up at the Olympics,) at Hellickson's hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, Yarygin let him up to prevent further injury, and wrestled just hard enough to protect himself until Hellickson finally fainted to pain.

After the Olympics, he won the 1973 World Championships, again all bouts by fall.

Thus Yarygin became the only wrestler to win three consecutive major competitions, scoring only fall victories.

He then lost several minor contests, and decided to retire from competition, settled in his native village of Sizaya, where he worked as a lumberjack in Taiga forest.

Outdoor activity helped him to regain his strength and confidence, and he came back in 1974 to continue his victorious streak.

His next Olympic victory in 1976 was less spectacular because he wrestled the whole tournament with two broken ribs.

After that Yarygin was selected as the Soviet Olympic flag bearer at the closing ceremony.

Coming to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for the match-up versus the American National Wrestling Team, Soviet wrestlers were welcomed officially by Mayor Walter Lisman, and were given a key to Wilkes-Barre by the mayor.

While preparing for the Moscow Olympics Yarygin realized that the young Soviet wrestler Ilya Mate has a better chance for the gold medal (which he indeed won).

After retiring in 1980, he headed the Soviet freestyle wrestling team from 1982 to 1992 and the Russian Wrestling Federation from 1993 until his untimely death in a car crash in 1997.

An exceptional upper-body wrestler, Yarygin was widely regarded for his tremendous physique and high-strength aggressive style, always aiming to pin down his opponents, with most of his stoppage wins came by way of fall achieved through rapid fireman's lift and slamming the opponent to the mat.

One of the most prestigious tournaments in the World was put together in his honor - The Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin Tournament is held annually in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, and has the reputation of being one of the hardest tournaments in the World.

The Yarygin Memorial annually sees the world's best wrestlers come to Siberia, with the added element that Russia's autonomous oblasts and republics such as Dagestan and Chechnya field independent teams alongside an All-Russia selection.

Yarygin was born as the sixth child in a family of ten siblings.

Most members of his family were heavily built and physically active people.

Since early age Yarygin helped his father at his blacksmith workshop.

Yarygin retired from competition permanently in 1980 and became a wrestling coach.

! style=background:white colspan=8 |1980 World Cup Winner at 100kg

In 1982–92, he trained the Soviet freestyle wrestling team, and in 1993–1997 headed the Russian Wrestling Federation.

He was a key organizer of the 1997 World Wrestling Championships in Krasnoyarsk.

! style=background:white colspan=8 |International competition record (incomplete)

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