By the name of my post many, if not all of those who's reading it would think that it's going to be another STORY OF HACK. But this time, nope, it is not. It's a story about the first Soviet supreme champion the ESTONIAN EAGLE - JOHANNES KOTKAS, his last name means EAGLE in Estonian. I found this interesting reference about him in the Estonian newspaper from 2015.
"On February 3, 100 years has passed since the birth of the legendary Estonian wrestler, Olympic champion and three-time European champion Johannes Kotkas . In this case, the website of the Russian Wrestling Federation published an interesting account from his life.
The Soviet athletes who successfully competed at the Helsinki Olympics attended the reception of the head of state, Joseph Stalin, in the Kremlin, Moscow in the autumn of 1952 . Among those who were invited was Kotkas, in Helsinki he won Olympic gold in the heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling.
At the reception, Stalin personally thanked all the athletes shaking hands with them. When he approached Kotkas, the dialogue began between the two:
- I was told that you are the strongest person in the world. Is that right?
said Stalin, and Kotkas responded respectfully to this unexpected question:
- Yes, Comrade Stalin.
Then when they were shaking hands with each other something very unexpected happened. Kotkas grabbed Stalin's arm and lifted him in the air like a boy. Everyone was puzzled, including the bodyguards of the head of state. No one knew how to behave and what to expect next. Kotkas held Stalin in the air, revolved him around his axis, and carefully put the great leader of the communist party back on the ground.
Stalin gathered himself quickly and said with a slight smile:
- Strong people live in Estonia!"
Stalin only had a few months to live at this time and probably had mellowed a bit since the terror