Misplaced Pages

Yakiv Punkin

Personal information
Born	8 December 1921 Zaporizhia, Ukrainian SSR
Died	12 October 1994 (aged 72) Zaporizhia, Ukraine
Sport
Sport	Greco-Roman wrestling
Club	Metallurg Zaporizhia
Medal record Men's Greco-Roman wrestling Representing the  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki 62 kg

Yakov Grigorievich Punkin (Russian: Яков Григорьевич Пункин; 8 December 1921 – 12 October 1994) was a featherweight Greco-Roman wrestler from Ukraine. Competing for the Soviet Union he won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics. He placed fifth at the 1953 World Championships. He became the first Olympic gold champion born on the territory of the modern Ukraine.

Biography

Punkin was Jewish. He took up wrestling in 1938, while working at a factory as a turner. At the onset of World War II in 1941 he joined the Soviet Army, but was soon captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in German prisoner-of-war camps: until summer 1942 in Emsland, in 1942–1945 in Osnabrück, and later in 1945 near Magdeburg. Throughout those year Punkin posed as a Muslim Ossetian man, hiding his Jewish origin, else he would be shot much earlier than many of his cellmates. When he was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945 he weighed only 36 kg.

Between 1945 and 1948 Punkin served with the Soviet Army, where he continued wrestling and won the 1947 Army championships. He then won four Soviet titles, in 1949–50 and in 1954–55. After retiring from competitions he worked as a wrestling coach in his native city of Zaporizhzhia.

Punkin had a son, Grigory, who lives in Israel. A wrestling tournament is held annually in his honor in Zaporizhia.

References

1. ^ Yakiv Punkin. sports-reference.com
2. "YIVO | Sport: Jews in Sport in the USSR".
3. "К ОЛИМПИЙСКОМУ ЗОЛОТУ… ЧЕРЕЗ КОНЦЛАГЕРЬ". Еврейский Обозреватель (in Russian). Retrieved 11 February 2018.
4. Яков Пункин – забытая олимпийская легенда. zp.ua (26 June 2013)
5. В Запорожье пройдет фестиваль борьбы им.Якова Пункина. prosport.zp.ua (8 December 2011)

v t e Olympic Champions in Greco-Roman featherweight
1912:  Kaarlo Koskelo (FIN) 1920:  Oskari Friman (FIN) 1924:  Kalle Anttila (FIN) 1928:  Voldemar Väli (EST) 1932:  Giovanni Gozzi (ITA) 1936:  Yaşar Erkan (TUR) 1948:  Mehmet Oktav (TUR) 1952:  Yakiv Punkin (URS) 1956:  Rauno Mäkinen (FIN) 1960:  Müzahir Sille (TUR) 1964:  Imre Polyák (HUN) 1968:  Roman Rurua (URS) 1972:  Georgi Markov (BUL) 1976:  Kazimierz Lipień (POL) 1980:  Stelios Mygiakis (GRE) 1984:  Kim Weon-kee (KOR) 1988:  Kamandar Madzhidov (URS) 1992:  Mehmet Akif Pirim (TUR) 1996:  Włodzimierz Zawadzki (POL) 2000:  Varteres Samurgashev (RUS) 2004:  Jung Ji-hyun (KOR) 2008:  Islambek Albiev (RUS) 2012:  Omid Norouzi (IRI)
1912–1920: 60 kg 1924–1928: 62 kg 1932–1936: 61 kg 1948–1960: 62 kg 1964–1968: 63 kg 1972–1996: 62 kg 2000: 63 kg 2004–2012: 60 kg

This article about a Soviet Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This biographical article relating to a Ukrainian sport wrestler or wrestling coach is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1921 births
• 1994 deaths
• Jewish Ukrainian sportspeople
• Jewish sport wrestlers
• Ukrainian male sport wrestlers
• Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine
• Soviet prisoners of war
• World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
• Olympic wrestlers for the Soviet Union
• Wrestlers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• Soviet male sport wrestlers
• Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
• Olympic medalists in wrestling
• Sportspeople from Zaporizhzhia
• People from Zaporizhzhia Governorate
• Avanhard (sports society) sportspeople
• Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• Soviet Jews in the military
• Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR
• 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen
• Soviet Olympic medalist stubs
• Ukrainian sport wrestler stubs