Aleksandr Kolchinsky
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Born | 20 February 1955 Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 16 July 2002 (aged 47) Kyiv, Ukraine | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 115 kg (254 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sport | Greco-Roman wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Soviet Army, Kiev | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Oleksandr Leonidovych Kolchynskyy (Ukrainian: Олександр Леонідович Колчинський; 20 February 1955 – 16 July 2002) was a Soviet Ukrainian heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler of Jewish-Ukrainian descent. He won Olympic gold medals in 1976 and 1980 and a world title in 1978, placing second in 1975, 1977 and 1979.[1][2] Most Olympic wins came by way of pin.
Career[]
Kolchynskiy took up wrestling in 1966, and in 1974 was included to the Soviet national team after winning his first Soviet title. He won five more national championships in a row in 1976–80 and would be a favorite at the 1984 Olympics, considering that he previously defeated the would-be 1984 Olympic champion Jeff Blatnick in the finale of the 1980 World Cup. But the Games were eventually boycotted by the Soviet Union, ending any aspirations for Kolchinsky participation.
Viktor Igumenov, Soviet National Team Coach, later told that Kolchinsky was rowdy and extremely lazy athlete, zero-discipline hooligan with little or no motivation for sports, but at the same time an remarkably talented wrestler, with springy and flexible body, gifted with a lightweight speed packed in a large, heavyweight frame.
Retirement and later years[]
Kolchynsky retired in the early 1980s, and in 1983 moved to Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, where he opened a small sewing shop together with his wife. Later he became involved with Ukrainian organized crime and in 1994 was sentenced to seven years of prison for extortion. He was paroled in 1996 and became a wrestling coach for teenagers. He died of a heart attack in 2002, aged 47. Earlier in 1998, an annual Greco-Roman wrestling tournament in his honor has been launched in his native city of Kyiv.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b "Oleksandr Kolchynskiy". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
- ^ Koltschinski, Alexander (URS). iat.uni-leipzig.de
External links[]
- Aleksandr Kolchinsky at United World Wrestling
- Aleksandr Kolchinsky at Olympedia
- 1955 births
- 2002 deaths
- Sportspeople from Kyiv
- Soviet male sport wrestlers
- Soviet people of Jewish descent
- Olympic wrestlers of the Soviet Union
- Wrestlers at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Wrestlers at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Ukrainian male sport wrestlers
- Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
- Olympic medalists in wrestling
- Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Ukrainian gangsters
- Sportspeople convicted of crimes
- European Wrestling Championships medalists
- World Wrestling Championships medalists
- Soviet Olympic medalist stubs
- Soviet sport wrestler stubs
- Ukrainian sport wrestler stubs