MOST DOMINANT ATHLETE OF ALL TIME

 

Alexandr Karelin

In March 2011 I told you about the  "Greatest Athlete Ever -- And You Haven't Heard of Him". The blog entry was about American wrestler Dan Gable, who compiled a won-loss record of 202-1 in American wrestling, and then won another 91 out of 96 matches (including the last 80 in a row) in Freestyle Wrestling on his way to winning an Olympic Gold Medal and a World Championship. Not bad at all. However, it turns out that he might actually be only the second-best athlete of all time, and he might even be just the second-best wrestler. On the other hand, perhaps "best athlete" might not be accurate -- might there be other athletes who were more "athletic" than Gable? So, a more accurate description should be "most dominant" athlete -- someone who has so overwhelmingly dominated their sport that there is no question about it. Well, I have that person for you.

Aleksandr Karelin (Александр Карелин)

Aleksandr Karelin of Russia competed in Greco-Roman Wrestling, which is different than Freestyle in many ways -- for instance, wrestlers can only grapple above the waist. While Gable wrestled mostly in the 130-150 lb (59-68 kg) weight classes, Karelin was 6'4" (1.93 m) tall, and at 289 lbs (131 kg), he was in the Super Heavyweight division.

Karelin Flips 290-lb Opponent

From the beginning of his competitive wrestling at the age of 15 in 1982, he went undefeated for 5 years, until he lost, 1-0, in 1987 at the USSR Championships to fellow Russian Igor Rostorotsky, the reigning USSR and European champion. Then he got serious about the sport -- he went another 13 years without a loss, and for the last 6 years of the streak, he didn't give up a single point in any bout! He won all 9 World Championships he entered, and 3 consecutive Olympic Gold Medals.

The Final Bout

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Karelin was going for his fourth consecutive Gold Medal. When he reached the final bout against American Rulon Gardner, his career record stood 287-1 -- his only loss was to Rostorotsky 13 years previously. Neither wrestler scored any points during regulation time, so it went into an overtime round. They had to begin the overtime with a "clinch hold" (a new rule created only for this one match), in which the opponents grasped each other chest-to-chest, and the first one to escape the hold would score 1 point. Karelin apparently let go for a split second, but it was so unclear that the officials had to do a video review. Gardner was awarded the point. During the remaining minutes in the round, Gardner basically lay on the ground and resisted Karelin's attempts to pick him up or roll him over -- in fact, during the match, Gardner was given three separate "passivity" warnings, but no points had been awarded to Karelin.

Time finally ran out, and Karelin lost the bout 1-0. After the match, Karelin left his shoes in the middle of ring, which signaled his retirement from the sport. 

So, Gable had lost his final collegiate bout after compiling a 202-0 record to that point, and Karelin lost his final bout after compiling a 287-1 record. While Gable went on to wrestle for 3 more years, and then became the most successful college wrestling coach of all time, Karelin instead went on to earn a pedagogy-related PhD, as well as a law degree. He was then elected to the Russian State Duma (Parliament), where he no doubt has to wrestle with even deadlier opponents.

Note: After defeating Karelin, Rulon Gardner's life took some unexpected turns. Not exactly a one-hit wonder, he did win the World Championship in 2001. The following year, he had a life-threatening snowmobile accident and was stranded in a snowy wilderness for over 18 hours. Part of his foot had to be amputated.  He appeared on the TV show "I Survived..." to tell his story. Qualifying for the 2004 Olympics, he won the Bronze Medal. He did not wrestle after that. But, wait, there's more! After the Olympics, he gained so much weight that he was up to 474 pounds. So, he became a contestant on the TV show "The Biggest Loser," but quit after a few months. In 2007, he was in a small plane that crashed into a near-freezing lake. He had to swim for an hour to reach shore, and then wait until the next day to be rescued. Not as dominating as Karelin or Gable, but he has proven that he's extremely difficult to defeat.

Karelin and 105-lb Wrestler