A detailed biographical piece has been released about Anatoly Parfenov, a Soviet Olympic wrestling champion with an extraordinary life story. Parfenov was a peasant's son and World War II veteran who served as both a storm trooper and tank operator, meeting victory in Berlin. After only five years of classical wrestling training, he won an Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight division and later coached the great Nikolai Balboshin. The story includes interviews with his son and students, plus a visit to his hometown village of Dvornikovo near Moscow. Local residents shared numerous stories about Parfenov's legendary strength, including incidents where he carried timber logs by hand or on sleds instead of using horses, deterred thieves and bandits through physical confrontation, and carried buckets of cabbage with a single finger. An 80-year-old villager recalled how Parfenov organized local youth, forbade swearing and smoking, and was welcomed back to the village after his Olympic victory with bread and salt.
