George Hackenschmidt
Hackenschmidt, circa. 1905
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| Birth name | Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 1, 1877 Dorpat, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire |
| Died | February 19, 1968 (aged 90) London, England, United Kingdom |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Billed height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) |
| Billed weight | 99 kg (218 lb) |
| Trained by | Ferdinand Gruhn Georg Lurich |
| Debut | 1896 |
| Retired | 1911 |
Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt (1 August [O.S. 20 July] 1877 – 19 February 1968), usually credited as George Hackenschmidt in English-speaking contexts, was an early 20th-century Baltic German strongman and professional wrestler who is recognized as professional wrestling's first world heavyweight champion.
Hackenschmidt launched his professional career in Reval in the Governorate of Estonia and lived most of his life in London, England, where he gained the nickname of "The Russian Lion". 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, a deadlift with arms behind the body. He was known for his impressive strength, fitness and flexibility and, later in life, wrote many books on physical culture, training and philosophy.
Georg Hackenschmidt was born in Dorpat, Governorate of Livonia, on 1 August 1877, where he lived with his parents, Baltic German Georg Friedrich Heinrich Hackenschmidt and Estonian Swede Ida Louise Johansson, and a younger brother and sister. He later admitted that neither of his parents were particularly robust in stature with any unusual physical characteristics, although his maternal grandfather was said to have been a huge and powerful man.
From his earliest years, Hackenschmidt devoted himself to physical development, particularly at the Secondary Science School (Realschule of Dorpat, as Tartu was then known), where he took advantage of the gymnasium. He excelled in cycling, gymnastics, swimming, running, jumping and weightlifting. His feats of strength were astounding for his teachers, as he lifted a small horse off the ground and lifted 276 pounds overhead with one hand. In a wrestler's bridge, he could reach out and grasp a 335-pound barbell, pull it to his chest from off the floor, and bench press it overhead, bridging on his neck. In 1902, he jumped one hundred times over a table with his feet tied together. He set several records in weight lifting and was considered both the strongest and the best-developed man in the world.
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