Most World Championship and Olympic gold medals for Greco-Roman wrestling
- Who
- Aleksandr Karelin
- What
- 12 total number
- Where
- Not Applicable
- When
- 26 September 1999
The most World Championship and Olympic gold medals for Greco-Roman wrestling is 12, achieved by Aleksandr Karelin (USSR/Russia) between 1988 and 1999.
Karelin won three Olympic golds (1988, 1992 and 1996) and nine UWW World Wrestling Championships at super-heavyweight between 1989 and 1999. After losing to Igor Rostorotsky at the 1987 Soviet Championship, Karelin embarked on a 13-year unbeaten streak. For six of these years, he didn’t concede a single point.
Nicknamed “The Russian Bear” and “The Experiment”, Karelin was notable for his immense strength and his ability to reverse body lift his opponents – almost unheard of at his weight division. His streak came to an end in the final of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, when he suffered a sensational upset loss to Rulon Gardner. Karelin retired afterwards, leaving his career record at 887 wins and just two defeats.
He earned a PhD with a thesis entitled “Methods of execution of suplex counter throws”.