Soslan Andiyev

Soslan Petrovich Andiyev was a Soviet heavyweight freestyle wrestler, born on 21 April 1952 and died on 22 November 2018. He was Olympic champion in 1976 and 1980, world champion in 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1978, European champion in 1974, 1975 and 1982, and Soviet champion in 1973 to 1978 and in 1980. He won the World Cup in 1976 and 1981 but missed the 1984 Olympics because of the Soviet boycott and retired that year. He came to the sport through his family: his older brother Genady coached him and took him to the wrestling club in 1964, and his brother Sergey was also a leading Soviet heavyweight. After retiring he worked as a national wrestling coach, returned to his native Ossetia in 1989 as its Minister of Sport, served as vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee from 1990 to 1998, and was inducted into the FILA Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.