Vladimir Yumin

Vladimir Yumin was considered one of the world’s best bantamweight, and later featherweight, freestylers in the 1970s. As a bantamweight Yumin won Olympic gold in 1976, was World Champion in 1974 and European Champion in 1975-76. He also won silver at the 1975 World Championships and bronze at the 1973 Worlds. After the 1976 Olympics, Yumin switched to featherweight and was World Champion from 1977-79 and European Champion in 1977. Domestically, Yumin won four Soviet titles: 1973-75 in bantamweight and 1978 in featherweight. Yumin also tried to qualify to the 1980 Soviet Olympic team, but finished only third at the 1980 Soviet Championships, winning his only other medal in that tournament. After finishing his sporting career, Yumin worked as a wresting coach, coaching the Turkish national team. Yumin was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2009.