Ivan KOCHERGIN

Ivan Kochergin took up wrestling in 1956 and made the Soviet national team in 1960. Kochergin made his international début at the 1960 Olympics, where he finished fifth in Greco-Roman flyweight. Kochergin missed the 1964 Olympics, but competed at the 1968 Olympics, where he won bronze in Greco-Roman bantamweight. Kochergin was also the European Greco-Roman bantamweight champion in 1968 and was fifth in bantamweight at the 1971 World Championships. Domestically, Kochergin won five Soviet Greco-Roman flyweight titles (1960, 1962, 1964, 1967) and one Soviet Greco-roman bantamweight title (1971). Since 2006, an annual Greco-Roman wrestling tournament in his honor has been held in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Rostov Oblast.