Olympic wrestling champion Nikolai Balboshin describes legendary grip strength

Five-time world champion and 1976 Olympic gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling Nikolai Balboshin revealed details about his exceptional grip strength in an interview. Balboshin explained that he would squeeze opponents' forearms so hard during matches that their arms would swell from restricted blood flow, causing some to be unable to continue. He recounted breaking a dynamometer during a medical examination when it maxed out beyond 120 units, far exceeding the 60-70 scored by his teammates. In his autobiography, Balboshin wrote about making the King of Sweden's fingers crunch during a handshake at the 1977 World Championships awards ceremony, deliberately squeezing hard so the monarch would remember him. His grip strength was so feared that he could assess opponents' chances simply by the firmness of their pre-match handshake.