George Hackenschmidt
Estonian strongman and professional wrestler / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt (1 August [O.S. 20 July] 1878[4] – 19 February 1968) was an Estonian[5][6][7] strongman, professional wrestler, writer, and sports philosopher who is recognized as professional wrestling's first world heavyweight champion.
This article possibly contains original research. (June 2020) |
George Hackenschmidt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Birth name | Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1878-08-01)August 1, 1878 Dorpat, Livonia, Russian Empire (now Tartu, Estonia) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | February 19, 1968(1968-02-19) (aged 89)[1] London, England[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Professional wrestling career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Billed height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Billed weight | 100 kg (220 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Trained by | Ferdinand Gruhn Georg Lurich | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Debut | 1898 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 1911 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sports career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Hackenschmidt began his professional career in Reval, Estonia (then part of the Russian Empire) and lived most of his life in London, England, where he was nicknamed "The Russian Lion".[8] He is believed to be the creator of the professional wrestling version of the bear hug as well as the person who popularised the hack squat; additionally, Hackenschmidt is also attributed as the creator of the bench press.[9] He was known for his impressive strength, fitness, and flexibility. Later in life, he wrote many books on physical culture, training and philosophy.