Anatoly Parfyonov

Before World War II, Anatoly Parfyonov worked as a mechanic in a spinning and weaving factory. In 1942 he was mobilized with the Red Army, serving as a machine gunner with the 69th Guards Rifle Division. Parfyonov saw action in October 1943 on the banks of Dnepr and was wounded twice in the elbow and arm in a battle near village Hradyzk on the east bank of Dnepr. After recovering from his injuries, Parfyonov continued to serve with the Red Army, this time as a driver-mechanic with the 108th Tank Brigade. Parfyonov was demobilized from the Army in 1946 and resumed his work as a mechanic in a spinning and weaving factory.

Parfyonov did not take up wrestling until 1951, when he was already 26-years-old. Within three years, however, in 1954, he won his first Soviet Greco-Roman heavyweight title, a victory he repeated in 1957. Only five years after taking up wrestling, Parfyonov became an Olympic champion. The 1956 Olympic Games Greco-Roman heavyweight title was his only international title and international tournament. Domestically, in addition to his 1954 and 1957 Soviet titles, Parfyonov also won Greco-Roman heavyweight bronze at the 1956 and 1959 Soviet Championships. As Parfyonov took up wrestling at quite an old age, he was not a very technical wrestler, but he compensated for his lack of technique with great strength. According to the 1964 Olympic freestyle heavyweight champion Aleksandr Ivanitsky, Parfyonov was physically stronger than the great Aleksandr Karelin, who is considered one of the greatest Greco-Roman wrestlers of all time. After finishing his sporting career, Parfyonov worked as a wrestling coach in his native Moscow, his most famous pupil being the 1976 Olympic Greco-Roman heavyweight champion Nikolay Balboshin. At the end of 1960s and start of 1970s, Parfyonov also tried his hand in acting, having small roles in various Soviet movies and TV serials, most notably as a German security guard in a Soviet 1973 blockbuster TV miniseries “Seventeen Moments of Spring.” Since 1999 an international memorial tournament in his honor has been held in Moscow and a minor planet, 7913 Parfyonov, is named after him.