Olympic champion wrestler Nikolai Balboshin recalls legendary grip strength

Five-time world champion and 1976 Olympic gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling Nikolai Balboshin discussed his legendary grip strength in an interview. He described how he would squeeze opponents' forearms so hard that their hands would swell, and he could tell an opponent's strength by their handshake before a match. Balboshin recounted incidents where he caused opponents' arms to go numb during bouts by cutting off blood flow with his grip. He also told a story of breaking a dynamometer during a medical exam after exceeding its 120-unit maximum. In his autobiography, he described making a trainer's fingers appear flattened during a grip contest and intentionally squeezing the hand of the King of Sweden during a 1977 medal ceremony to ensure the monarch would remember the moment.