I’ve watched the first few episodes of Games of Arms on AMC and find arm wrestling fascinating.  The matches are usually pretty short and won by the more strategic, stronger, better man.  It’s fun trying to predict who is going to win based off of past results and class levels.  For instance, Dave Chaffee (the guy doesn’t even have a Wiki page)  recently became the world champion by beating the undefeated Russian champion Denis Cyplenkov.  This is a huge deal for Russians but doesn’t even register on the American radar.  So now when Dave Chaffee is pitted against one of the arm wrestlers from the show, he’s in a class by himself and some of these other guys are chumps.  Last match he beat his opponent using his off hand to give you an idea.  This interest lead me to look into arm wrestling a bit further and there are a few top guys whose names stand out.

Alexey Voevoda vs John Brzenk

Alexey Voyevoda pops up after a few searches.  To start the Alexey Voyevoda Wikipedia page – “Voyevoda holds a good deal of recognition as a professional arm wrestler, he has secured several Russian arm wrestling championships. His triumph over legendary arm-wrestler John Brzenk, was immortalized in the feature length documentary, “Pulling John”, directed by Sevan Matossian.”  When you read about John Brzenk, he’s considered the top of the top.  To beat him is extraordinary.  Alexey Voyevoda’s talents don’t end there though.  He has won many medals for Russia’s Olympic bobsled team.  Is anyone else blown away by this?  

John Breznk vs Sylvester Stallone in Over the Top. Look at that size difference!

So not only is this guy one of the best arm wrestlers on our planet, but he is also able to jump into a speeding sled with other people and be elite.  I don’t know how much of bob sledding requires physical attributes but whatever this guy’s’ make up is, it’s working.  These are the type of people who blow my mind.  I’m not able to be even close to the best at ONE thing and this guy is the best in the world at 2 things!  In my mind, a guy like Alexey Voyevoda should make a list of dual sport athletes and they should be considered better than one trick pony’s.  Bo Jackson comes to mind as a rival.