{"id":599035,"date":"2026-07-19T17:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/2026\/07\/599035\/underground-fighter-champion-and-nkvd-prisoner-how-the-system-ruined-the-life-of-the-strongman-from-zhovtneve\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T17:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:01:13","slug":"underground-fighter-champion-and-nkvd-prisoner-how-the-system-ruined-the-life-of-the-strongman-from-zhovtneve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/en\/2026\/07\/599035\/underground-fighter-champion-and-nkvd-prisoner-how-the-system-ruined-the-life-of-the-strongman-from-zhovtneve\/","title":{"rendered":"Underground fighter, champion and NKVD prisoner: how the system ruined the life of the strongman from Zhovtneve"},"content":{"rendered":"

In old photographs he appears as a stocky man in a wrestling singlet, once known far beyond Mykolaiv<\/strong>. Ivan Semenovych Kruts<\/strong> was a wrestler, weightlifter, circus performer, coach, and one of the most famous strongmen of his time. In the then town of Zhovtneve<\/strong>, which is now part of the Korabelnyi District of Mykolaiv<\/strong>, his performances drew full houses.<\/p>\n

However, the athlete’s life was not only victories, applause, and incredible strength feats. During the Nazi occupation he aided the underground and saved people from persecution and deportation for forced labor. After the return of Soviet power the strongman was arrested, his property confiscated, and he was sent to the camps.<\/p>\n

Where Ivan Kruts<\/strong> was born: discrepancies in the biography<\/h2>\n

Local history materials about the childhood of Ivan Semenovych Kruts<\/strong> contain different accounts. One description of his life stated that he was born in Kursk<\/strong>, and a few years later the family moved to the south of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

At the same time, in his own autobiography and during interrogations in the criminal case Ivan Semenovych Kruts<\/strong> named Mykolaiv<\/strong> as his place of birth. According to these documents, he was born in 1906<\/strong> into the family of a merchant fleet sailor.<\/p>\n

The Kruts family, fleeing famine, moved to the village of Rozdol in Holovanivsk uyezd of Yelysavethrad Governorate \u2013 on the territory of present-day Kirovohrad Oblast<\/strong>. There the future athlete spent his childhood years.<\/p>\n

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Worked as a dock laborer and stepped onto the wrestling mat<\/h2>\n

In 1920<\/strong> the young man began attending a sports section at a labor school. After finishing his studies in 1922<\/strong> he worked as a dock laborer and at the same time performed on stage and in the circus as a wrestler.<\/p>\n

From 1926<\/strong> sports and circus performances became his main occupation. Ivan Semenovych Kruts<\/strong> toured towns and villages, faced well-known athletes on the mat, and demonstrated strength acts.<\/p>\n

In his youth he performed for a time together with gymnast Vasyl Dziuba<\/strong>. According to accounts, during one of the performances in Odesa<\/strong> the gymnast fell from an apparatus and died. There was a version that the equipment might have been deliberately damaged, but there is no documentary confirmation of that assumption. After the tragedy Ivan Semenovych Kruts<\/strong> began performing solo.<\/p>\n

Posters presented him as a Ukrainian strongman, athlete, wrestler, and former champion of the Soviet Union. There were always plenty of people eager to see his shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cMill\u201d with 6 boys<\/strong> and almost 229 kilograms<\/strong> in his teeth<\/h2>\n

To the residents of Zhovtneve<\/strong> Ivan Semenovych Kruts<\/strong> was remembered primarily as an athlete who demonstrated incredible physical strength. Each year in the local club he held exhibition performances that became a real event for the whole town.<\/p>\n

During one of the acts 6 boys<\/strong> were invited onto the stage. They were tied together with towels, after which the strongman lifted the entire group onto his shoulders and spun them, performing the so-called \u201cmill\u201d.<\/p>\n

An even more difficult act involved 7<\/strong> \u201cdoubles\u201d \u2013 paired cast-iron weights. They were chained together, and the total weight of the contraption was 14 poods<\/strong>, or approximately 229 kilograms<\/strong>. The athlete lifted this load with his teeth and swung it from side to side.<\/p>\n

Ivan Semenovych Kruts<\/strong> also drove a 150-millimeter nail into a wooden floor with his palm. He wrapped his hand with an ordinary handkerchief and drove the nail in up to the head. According to the memories of old-timers, after that the athlete could pull it out with his teeth.<\/p>\n

The program included other strength tricks. The strongman twisted nails into spirals with his fingers, tied steel rods into \u201cties\u201d, bent horseshoes with his hands, and tossed a metal ball weighing 45 kilograms<\/strong> over himself.<\/p>\n

In another act he interlocked his fingers and had horses hitched to both his hands. The animals could not break the athlete’s grip. Such an act required extraordinary strength, so it was performed by only a few athletes of that era.<\/p>\n