The Ivan Poddubny Museum is located in Yeysk, near the entrance to Ivan Poddubny Park. Poddubny is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. In Yeysk, he is especially honored, since he has lived here for the last 22 years of his life. The grave of Ivan Poddubny is located in the park, next to the museum.
Ivan Poddubny was born in 1871 in the village of Bogodukhovka, Poltava province, Ukraine, in the family of a simple peasant. His father and all his relatives were distinguished by strength and huge stature. When Poddubny reached all the heights and titles in professional sports, he said that: "Only my father is stronger than me." During his long career as a wrestler, he (with the exception of single cases) did not lose a single important match. He became a multiple world champion in freestyle wrestling. The Museum of Ivan Poddubny describes in detail his career as a wrestler.
As a child, Ivan Poddubny helped his father on the farm, but then went first to Sevastopol, and then to Feodosia to work as a longshoreman. In 1896, Ivan Beskorovayny`s circus arrived in Feodosia. During one of the performances, Poddubny volunteered from the audience to fight with famous wrestlers of that time. They performed in a circus and Poddubny easily defeated them. From that moment, at the age of 25, his wrestling career began.
At the beginning of the 20th century, he became the world`s most famous French-style wrestler. Now it`s called freestyle wrestling. One of the most important fights in his life were tournaments with the French wrestler Raoul le Boucher. At the first fight, he smeared himself with oil and ran around the ring from Poddubny. As a result, the judges awarded him a victory with the wording " for beautiful and skillful escapes from sharp wrestling techniques". Because of such biased judging, Ivan Poddubny even wanted to end his wrestling career, but in subsequent fights he defeated the Frenchman.
In subsequent years, Ivan Poddubny performed on tour, both in Russian cities and abroad. He visited 14 countries on 4 continents. He performed with great success in the USA in 1926. By that time, he was 55 years old, but he defeated all the most famous wrestlers in the USA.
After returning from the USA, he bought a house in Yeysk in 1927 and began a quiet life with his second wife Maria Mashonina. Sometimes he fought at various tournaments. Poddubny made his last appearance in the ring in 1941, at the age of 70. Ivan Poddubny rarely left Yeysk. He remained in the city even during the German occupation in 1942. The Germans offered him to go to Germany to train wrestlers, but he refused, saying: "I am a Russian wrestler, and I will remain one."
Ivan Poddubny died in 1949 in Yeysk. His wife donated Poddubny`s personal belongings to the Yeysk Museum of Local Lore, however, in 1971 the local authorities decided to open a separate Memorial Museum of Ivan Poddubny, to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great wrestler.
The exposition of the Ivan Poddubny Museum is designed in the form of a circus, where the wrestler began his career. There are a lot of personal belongings, posters from various cities, photos of the wrestler. There are also nails that Ivan Poddubny twisted into knots Looking at these iron knots, you can imagine the strength of a wrestler.
