Alexander Medved

From Freepedia

Image:Olympic-rings.png
Men's Wrestling (freestyle)
Gold	1964	light-heavyweight
Gold	1968	heavyweight
Gold	1972	super heavyweight

Alexander Medved (Belarusian: Алякса́ндр Васíлевiч Мядзве́дзь; Russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Медве́дь) (born September 16, 1937 in Belaya Tserkov, Ukrainian SSR) is a famous Soviet/Belarusian wrestler. He is considered by some to be the best freestyle wrestler of all time. He was the first person ever to win three gold medals in freestyle wrestling and as of 2005 he is still the only one to do so. FILA recognizes Medved as The Greatest Wrestler of the 20th Century in Freestyle (with Alexander Karelin being the greatest in Greco-Roman). He has written two books on the sport.

Legacy

Medved is one of the most well-known Belarusian athletes and to this day his image continues to inspire others. He was the flagbearer for the Belarusian Olympic team on several occasions including the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He also performed the Judge's Oath at the 1980 Summer Olympics. It should also be noted that "Medved" is the Russian word for "bear" which perfectly fits his image.

Present

Today he lives in Belarus and is the Chairman of the Interinstitutional Faculty of Physical Development of the Belarusian Institute for Information Science and Radio Electronics and also Vice-president of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus. Medved is also the Olympic coach for the Belarussian freestyle wrestling team.

His non-Olympic awards include:

• World championships: 7 times (1962-63, 1966-67, 1969-71)
• European championships: 3 times (1966, 1968, 1972)

External links

• Profile and short biography in the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame
• Biography From the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus