The legendary Belarusian wrestler was 86 years old
Alexander Medved was considered a world legend and the best wrestler of the twentieth century. The athlete won the world championship seven times and the European championship three times. He also won three Olympic golds (Tokyo, 1964, Mexico City, 1968 and Munich, 1972).
Alexander Medved was a unique man both in terms of athletic achievements and natural power and anthropometry. After he won his first gold medal in Tokyo in 1964, medics were puzzled by the athlete’s physical strength and decided to examine him. They put a silometer in his hand. They said, “Squeeze it!” The bear shook it and the device broke. Then the specialists began to measure the volume of his lungs. They gave him a tube. They said, “Blow!” The bear blew — all the water that allowed to measure was spilled out of the device. That is, the necessary scales did not exist at that time to fix the strength of a fighter.
Many experts are sure that a better athlete than Aliaksandr Vasilievich may not be born in Belarus “within the next 100 years”. No one can explain the phenomenon of the Bear. A revealing episode was the fight with Chris Taylor — an American wrestler, who by the 1972 Olympics was fattened “by secret technology” to 210 kilograms. Medvedev’s weight was almost twice less — 107 kilograms, but this did not prevent the Belarusian from defeating his opponent and taking gold at the last Olympics of his career.
In 1972 Medved quit professional sports, and in 1980 he stopped going to the mat and trainings. Alexander Vasilievich’s last job was at BSUIR, where he was a wrestling coach until 2018. Medved did not live to his 87th birthday just 2 weeks later.
The farewell to Alexander Vasilievich Medved will be held on September 4 at the Minsk Palace of Sports from 10.00 to 15.00.