Konstantin VYRUPAEV

Konstantin Vyrupayev from Irkutsk, Siberia took up wrestling in 1947 and was noticed by the Soviet sports officials in 1954, when he won a bronze in Greco-Roman bantamweight at the Soviet championships. In 1956, Vyrupayev was selected for the Soviet Olympic team and at the Olympics surprised everyone by winning a gold medal in Greco-Roman bantamweight, although he lost his first round match to Romanian Francisc Horvath by decision, but the bad points system allowed him to continue to compete for gold medal. In 1958, Vyrupayev switched to featherweight and competed at that category at the 1960 Olympics, where he won a bronze medal and at the 1962 World Championships, where he won silver. Domestically, Vyrupayev never won a Soviet title, but besides his 1954 Greco-Roman bantamweight bronze, he won Greco-Roman bantamweight silvers in 1955-1957, Greco-Roman featherweight silver in 1960 and Greco-Roman featherweight bronzes in 1961 and 1962. After finishing his sporting career, Vyrupayev worked as a wrestling coach in his native Irkutsk, his most famous pupil being 1988 European champion in Greco-Roman bantamweight Aleksandr Shestakov. Since 1990 an international tournament in his honor has been held in Irkutsk.