Oleksandr Leonidovych Kolchynskyy (; 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. Most Olympic wins came by way of

pin A pin is a device, typically pointed, used for fastening objects or fabrics together. Pins can have the following sorts of body: *a shaft of a rigid inflexible material meant to be inserted in a slot, groove, or hole (as with pivots, hinges, an ...

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 Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Blatnick (July 26, 1957 – October 24, 2012) was an American super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler and sports commentator. He won NCAA Division II heavyweight wrestling championships in 1978 and 1979 and won the Olympic go ...

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 Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

Uzbek SSR The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (, ), also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Uzbek branch of the Soviet Communist P ...

, 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 Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

. He was paroled in 1996 by

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

and became a wrestling coach for teenagers. He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

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.

References

External links

* 1955 births 2002 deaths Martial artists from Kyiv Soviet male sport wrestlers Soviet people of Jewish descent Olympic wrestlers for 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 Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Honorary Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour European Wrestling Championships medalists World Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen {{Ukraine-wrestling-bio-stub