Andriy Anatoliyovych Pushkar (; August 6, 1985 – November 14, 2018), also known as Andrii Pushkar or Andrey Pushkar, was a Ukrainian professional arm wrestler and

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the practice of progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's muscles via hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. It is primarily undertaken for aesthetic ...

. He is widely considered as one of the greatest armwrestlers of all time. He won the

World Armwrestling Championship World Armwrestling Championships is the main arm wrestling championship in the World. It is organized by the World Armwrestling Federation, founded in 1977. The first WAF World Armwrestling was hosted by John Miazdzyk in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canad ...

a record eleven times in both right and left hand.

Early life

Andriy Pushkar was born in the city of

Kremenets Kremenets (, ; ; ) is a city in Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion, and lies north-east of the Pochaiv Lavra. The city is situated in the historic region of Volhynia and features the 12th-c ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

on August 6, 1985. When he was 11-years old, he saw the movie

Commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

with

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

and decided to become an athlete. In 2007, Pushkar won in the heavyweight division of

arm wrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled "armwrestling") is a sport in which two participants, facing each other with their bent elbows placed on a flat surface (usually a table) and hands firmly gripped, each attempt to "pin" their opponent's hand by forcing ...

competition where he took his first world championship medal.

Death

On November 14, 2018, while driving with Oleh Zhokh and Oleh's father in the Rivne region, Andriy Pushkar was killed in a

traffic collision A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

. Oleh became comatose and Oleh's father died. According to the media report, the Ukrainian athlete from Ostroh District was the driver of a

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

. He lost control of the car due to oncoming traffic and collided with a truck. The accident occurred on a highway between the villages of Hai-Leviatynski and Krupets.

References

1985 births 2018 deaths Male arm wrestlers Ukrainian male bodybuilders 21st-century Ukrainian sportsmen {{Ukraine-sport-bio-stub