Ivan Poddubny: a hero who was not broken by enemies or poverty

Imagine a person. Not just a strong one, but one whose strength seems like a mistake of nature, a glitch in the matrix. A person who uses a 16-kilogram iron stick as a walking cane. Who breaks horseshoes with his bare hands not for fun, but simply because he can. This is not a comic book character. This is Ivan Maksimovich Poddubny.

You know, when you read about him, it seems like it's all fiction, an epic saga. But no. It was reality. Harsh, simple, and incredibly powerful, like himself.

Where do such people come from?

He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Or even an iron one. The son of a Zaporozhye Cossack, raised on Poltava land, he knew one thing from childhood - labor. The kind that breaks your back and tears your sinews. From the age of 12, he worked as a farmhand, carrying sacks of grain in the port of Sevastopol. There, among the loaders, he realized a simple thing: his strength is capital. And even more - his essence.

His day did not start with coffee. It started with a 32-kilogram weight. Every day. Then - an ice shower or rubbing with snow. His diet? Simple, peasant. Milk, eggs, black bread, vegetables. No doping or protein shakes. Only what the earth gave. He was its continuation. The roots of his strength went deep into the black soil.

And there was love. The very first one that leaves a scar for life. A young gymnast, Masha. Fragile, airy. He - a bear, a block. They were going to get married, but she fell from the trapeze and crashed right before his eyes. They say that after that his heart hardened. Or maybe it just hid under the armor of muscles. He went into wrestling headfirst. So as not to think. To win.

Champion of Champions

The world of wrestling at the beginning of the 20th century was a real theater. French wrestling (today we know it as Greco-Roman) was incredibly popular in Europe. The names of the champions thundered like the names of rock stars. And then a simple Russian peasant enters this arena. Without elegant manners, with a heavy look and crushing power.

At first, he was looked down upon. Barbarian. Savage. And then he began to pin one champion after another. His main rival is the Frenchman Raoul le Boucher. Elegant, technical, cunning. Before their main fight in Paris, le Boucher did what would now be called "unsportsmanlike conduct." He smeared himself with olive oil so that Poddubny could not make a grip. Ivan Maksimovich was furious. He exhausted the Frenchman, who was disqualified for tricks. But Poddubny did not forgive this.

"I will still defeat you," he told Raoul, "but not on the mat, but in the hospital."

And he kept his word. In the next fight, he broke the Frenchman so much that he was carried away from the arena. It was not just a victory. It was an assertion. An affirmation of simplicity and honesty over tricks and posing.

For 40 years. Just think about this number. For forty years of performances, he did not lose a single championship. Not a single one. He was nicknamed the "Champion of Champions." He was an absolute, undeniable force. He toured all over the world - America, Europe, Africa. And everywhere he left behind a trail of defeated opponents and admiring spectators.

But America deceived him. The contract was drawn up cleverly. All the money earned he was to receive only upon its completion. But he was not released. In fact, he was enslaved. For two years he crushed American wrestlers, and when he realized that he would not see the money, he simply tore up the contract and went home. Almost penniless. Honor turned out to be more expensive. Honestly, it's hard to even imagine now.

The Last Fight

And then the revolution came. And the world changed. Collectivism came to replace single champions. Poddubny, a world star, found himself out of work. He was too great, too individual for the new era. During the Civil War, he was almost shot - by both the Reds and the Whites. Only the name saved him. Who would raise a hand against Poddubny himself?

He worked as a bouncer in an Odessa pub. Was a simple employee. But the arena was calling. Even at 50, at 60 years old, he went out on the mat. The strength left slowly, reluctantly. But it was leaving.

The most poignant story is from the time of the German occupation. He lived in Yeysk. A small house. The Germans, entering the city, found out who lived here. He was offered to go to Germany to train German athletes. He was promised a comfortable life, honor. He refused. Categorically. And then the commandant of the city ordered ... to issue him a pass to the billiard room, which he kept to feed himself. And forbade the soldiers to touch him. The legend was stronger than the swastika. He walked through the occupied city with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor on his chest, and no one dared to remove it.

But the worst thing started after the war. Poverty. Oblivion. The greatest wrestler on the planet lived on a tiny pension. He, who was used to eating a pound of meat at a time, catastrophically lacked food. He wrote letters to Voroshilov, begging to increase his ration. "I don't have enough bread," wrote the man who was once a symbol of the indestructible power of an entire country. They sold part of his awards to buy food.

He died in 1949. At 77 years old. From a heart attack caused by chronic malnutrition. It was written in his death certificate. The invincible champion, whom the best athletes in the world could not defeat, fell in battle with hunger. In his own country, to which he brought so much glory.

Sometimes it seems that such stories are some kind of cruel lesson. A lesson that physical strength is worthless in the face of the system's indifference. But, however, there is another lesson. The body can be broken. The spirit - never.