Tips Find True Love for Unfeminine Women

Being a smart and professional woman, you can get your career promotion with ease. However, you would find it hard to choose "mr.right" if acting of unfeminine ways such as official tasks rather than domestic works.

If this describes you, let’s put your masculine energy down and make it easier for your feminine energy to wake up. We now introduce you to some love tips for women which may help you act more feminine and get the love you want.

Making decisions in office means managing fields of people, projects as well as goals in order to reach the expected outcome. However, treating your love as work management is likely to result in confliction between you and your boyfriend which can end your relationship. Therefore, you should try to learn to accept your sweetheart for who he is in stead of changing him by all means

Learn to accept your sweetheart for who he is and don’t attempt to change him

Systematic strategies and to-do lists at work will help you connect and put priority on your task better.  In love, the manner may make your daling keep away and break up as a result just because he finds it uncomfortable.  By connecting to your man naturally, you will find true love.

Try to connect to him by your heart

Work is something serious and most of us tend to make it professional as mush as possible.  In contrast, being too clever in love is not a good way  Almost men don’t pay attention to serious women. The way to impress your boyfriend is having fun and lightheartedness.

Almost men find attractive in women who have fun and lightheartedness

Some women would like to perform themself as workalohics by addressing all tasks without any help.  But in love, your man may feel that you don’t need him if you often do everything by yourself.  Try to be a needy lady instead. Your boyfriend will feel good about himself and your relationship when you receive his help.

Your boyfriend will feel good about himself and you when you receive his help

Source: ezine9.com

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Squeeze Herself into Fridge - Zlata

Meet Zlata, the former Russian gymnast, is among the world’s best contortionists. Zlata realized she had the amazing talent when she was four years old. At the height of 1m79 and the weight of 58 kilos, Zalate uses most of her day working out and training for shows around the world.


Contortion is an unusual form of physical display which relates to the dramatic blending and flexing of the human body. Contortionists often have unusual natural flexibility which is then improved through gymnastic training. Most contortionists are divided into frontbenders or backbenders depending on the direction in which their spine is more flexible. One of the most favorite acts of Zlata is bending herself backwards at a perfect 90 degree angle. The act nearly cuts her in half so the back of her hands can touch her heels.

Meet Zlata, 24 year old, puts herself inside a fridge. She has been performing this act for 10 years

Zlata can even bend herself into 50cm-square boxes

Zlata’s tendons are so pliable that she can adopt seemingly back-breaking positions for lengthy periods of time

According to Zlata, doing these acts is very natural to her unless she has to hold a pose for a long time in photo shoots. Zlata doesn’t really go on diet but she has to practice very hard to keep muscles in shape and to be as flexible as possible.

Doing these acts is very easy to Zlata

In the past, Zlata wasn’t proud of her ability. The first performance of her talent is when her teacher asked her to create a bridge. In order to create the bridge, she successfully stood on her hands and feet with her back arched. Many female schoolfellows were jealous of her and didn’t like how good she was. Zlata gave up gymnastics and took part in a school where she learnt the art of contortionism.

The contortionist can bend herself at a 90 degree angle

Source:ezine9.com/

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Top 10 Animal Actors

Movies and television seem to have a never-ending supply of talking, dancing and singing animals. Often their performances are enhanced by computer graphics or robot doubles. While there is nothing wrong with that, before CGI, there were a number of animals that performed in front of the cameras with only the promise of a bone at the end of the day. On this list, our performers are free from CGI and animatronics. On television in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, many animals had their own television shows. If your favorite isn’t on this list, let me apologize now, and wait for the honorable mentions.

Names for these animal thespians can be confusing as many were billed not by their given names but by the role they played, or not billed at all.

The top five animal actors on this list are all dogs. These dogs all gave performances that many times went beyond doing tricks. The top dog on this list could shame Keanu Reeves, Matthew McConaughey, and many other A-list actors.

A tip of the hat must go to Frank Weatherwax, his better known brother Rudd, and Frank Inn. Together and separately, they trained many animals from at least the Thirties into the Eighties. Frank Inn started as an assistant to the Weatherwax brothers and later struck out on his own, training the animals for The Beverley Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. Rudd Weatherwax is known to millions for his dog food endorsements with Lassie. These trainers are mentioned in this list more than once.

10:J Fred Muggs

NBC Television had launched The Today Show with Dave Garroway. Ratings were dreadful, until someone got the idea of adding a chimpanzee as a mascot. Ratings for the show improved dramatically, and television sales increased as well. J Fred didn’t do tricks, didn’t read the weather forecast, or laugh at Garroway’s jokes. He was, like many actors and artists, somewhat temperamental, but kept his job because he was ratings gold. He had at least one guest starring role as an actor on the television program, Tom Corbett Space Cadet. He was born in 1952 and first appeared on the Today show, wearing diapers, in 1953. In addition to his television work, J Fred Muggs is a painter, and created a cover for June 1960 issue of Mad magazine. I could not find an obituary for J Fred, and I have references to his living in Florida in 2004. This would make him the only living member of this list. When The Today Show had its 50th anniversary program, J. Fred was not invited.

9:Bamboo Harvester

Bamboo Harvester was the star, along with Alan Young, of the television program Mr. Ed. On the program he was not credited under his own name, but as the title character, “Mr. Ed.” Bamboo was trained by Les Hilton, who had also worked on the Francis The Talking Mule movie series of the 1950s, training the mule, whose actual name was Molly. Bamboo Harvester and Molly appeared to talk by having a nylon thread placed in their mouths which, when pulled by Hilton, made the animal move his lips. Bamboo was picked for the role of Mr. Ed as he was not temperamental and could work with the string in his mouth for hours without complaint. The reason Bamboo makes this list and not Molly is that, according to both Hilton and series star Alan Young, Bamboo eventually figured out that he was supposed to move his lips when Young stopped talking, and the thread was no longer needed. The thread can be seen in early episodes of the program, but not in later ones, bearing this out. When interviewed during the show’s production, Young stated the effect was achieved by putting peanut butter on the horse’s gums, but this story was used to keep the real method secret. Mr. Ed’s voice was supplied, unaccredited, by former cowboy star Allan “Rocky” Lane.

8:Highland Dale

Highland Dale was the black stallion who starred in Black Beauty, in 1946. Born in 1943 in Missouri, Highland Dale acted from the 1940s until the 1960s, in both movies and television roles. Trained by Ralph McCutcheon to untie knots, play dead and whinny on command, Highland Dale later starred on the television show, Fury, with Peter Graves and Bobby Diamond. Highland Dale’s last credited appearance was guest staring on an episode of Lassie. Highland Dale passed away of respiratory problems in 1972.

7:Spike

Spike, a yellow Labrador, portrayed Old Yeller in the Disney movie of the same name. If you haven’t seen the film, have a hanky nearby. He was rescued from an animal shelter by Frank Weatherwax. In addition to Old Yeller he appeared in the movies A Dog of Flanders, The She-Creature and The Silent Call. He made television appearances as well, including an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club.

6:Golden Cloud

Golden Cloud appeared in movies before being purchased by Roy Rogers and renamed Trigger. Many movie cowboys had a trained horse, Tom Mix had Tony, William Hart had Fritz and Gene Autry rode more than one horse named Champion. These horses did jumping and riding tricks, but Trigger could take direction, and performed over a hundred tricks, such as untying Roy’s hands, walking on his hind legs, dancing and playing dead, all by voice command. His most incredible trick was that he was housebroken, which enabled Roy to take him in theaters and television studios. Trigger even had his own Dell comic book for a time. Trigger was stuffed after his passing and is now apparently owned by the cable channel Rural Free Delivery Television, which is opening a western museum.

5:Terry

Terry was a terrier who is most famous for playing Toto in The Wizard of Oz. She worked in over a dozen other films including Bright Eyes with Shirley Temple, and her last movie, Tortilla Flat with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamar. Terry was seldom credited under her real name and in Oz is credited as Toto. It was while working on Oz that Terry’s foot was broken by an actor playing one of the Wicked Witches soldiers. Terry recovered, and made many films afterward. An “autobiography” of Terry was released and occasionally is available at Amazon.

4:Pal

Pal was working as a stunt dog on the 1943 MGM movie Lassie Comes Home, with child stars Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor. Pal had lost the title role to a prized female show collie, however during production Pal was selected as the lead. There are conflicting accounts as to why this happened, but Pal proved to be a one-take wonder and starred in seven movies for MGM. Pal was owned and trained by Rudd Weatherwax, with assistance from his brother Frank, and later Frank Inn. When MGM stopped making Lassie films, they still owed Rudd money and he accepted the rights to the Lassie character, in lieu of payment. He took the Lassie character to television for a series that ran from 1954 until 1973. Though Pal’s son (named Lassie Jr.) had taken over his role in the movie series a few years before, Pal took the Lassie role one more time for the pilot episode, and apparently was present in the studio while his progeny worked the role. He was used as the occasional backup. Pal passed away in 1958.

3:Skippy

Skippy was a wire-haired terrier trained by original owners Henry and Gale East, with assistance from the Weatherwax brothers and Frank Inn. Skippy is best known from his role as Asta in the first two Thin Man Movies with Myrna Loy and William Powell. He was billed as Asta in those movies and look-alike dogs appeared later in the Thin Man series billed under that name. Skippy also appeared in many films, both before and after The Thin Man. He was an “extra” in some films and featured in others. A couple of his prominent roles, besides Asta, were as Mr. Smith the dog in The Awful Truth and as George in Bringing Up Baby, both with Cary Grant. Skippy suffered from inconsistent billing in his time, sometimes being credited as Skippy, Asta or not at all. After Skippy passed away, other terriers were credited as Asta. Skippy shows a good acting range in his movies, acting afraid, mad or doing an impersonation of a bloodhound.

2:Rin Tin Tin

The original Rin Tin Tin was a dark German Shepard owned and trained by a World War One veteran from Los Angeles, Lee Duncan. He brought the dog back from France after the war, training him to do tricks. He hoped Rin Tin Tin would follow in the footsteps of previous celebrity movie canines, Jean The Biograph Dog and Strongheart. The dog found work playing wolves in early features. Rin Tin Tin became hugely popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and his movies were big moneymakers for Warner Brothers, credited with saving the company, financially. The film series helped get Daryl Zanuck promoted to a prominent position within that studio as Zanuck was an early champion of the film series. (Perhaps without these movies, there would be no Time-Warner conglomerate today.) Rin Tin Tin appeared in a series of movies playing “Rinty” (also his real nickname), as well as taking other canine roles, such as “Scotty” in Tiger Rose in 1931. By 1930, he had his own radio program on the NBC Blue network. The radio reference book “The Big Broadcast” by Buxton and Owen references Francis X. Bushman as his co-star on that program. Rin Tin Tin played himself, barking and growling on cue. In 1932, Rin Tin Tin passed away. There had already been a transition to his son, Rin Tin Tin Jr., both on the radio show and in the movies. There have been many Rin Tin Tins since the original, all from the original bloodline. The original Rin Tin Tin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 1976 film comedy, Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood is a spoof on the Rin Tin Tin craze.

1:Higgins

Higgins was the Tom Hanks of animal actors, with an acting range wider than that of many human professionals. He is best known for playing the title role in Benji. He had a regular role on the C.B.S. television comedy Petticoat Junction as Dog, and appeared in other movies and television programs. He was trained by Frank Inn, who also trained the animals on The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. Like many actors, Higgins started from humble beginnings, a mixed breed in an animal shelter. Frank Inn considered Higgins his best pupil. Although Higgins could do over a hundred tricks, he was much more than a well-trained dog. He also could show emotions on cue, acting afraid, interested, sad or bored as needed. He could sneeze or yawn on cue. He could do romantic comedy, or go full-tilt Rambo as required. The original Benji film (subsequent movies used other dogs) was not his only starring role, he also was the star of Mooch Goes To Hollywood, with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Vincent Price as his co-stars. Higgins played the title role. While working on Petticoat Junction, he developed a special relationship with co-star Edgar Buchanan and their work together in Benji could be one of the most natural performances by a canine and man on film. The urn with his ashes was buried in the casket of his trainer, Frank Inn.

Source:http://listverse.com

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Worst Generals in British History

Great Britain has a long, storied military history. For every glorious victory and brilliant general, however, there’s an ignominious defeat and blundering fool. The following list presents ten such incompetents.

10:James Abercrombie
1706-1781

Poor Edward Braddock always gets a drubbing for his mismanagement of the Monongahela Campaign. But the French and Indian War saw an equally stupid disaster perpetrated by James Abercrombie, who wasted thousands of men in a futile assault against Fort Ticonderoga in July 1758.

The French position at Ticonderoga was not insurmountable. The terrain gave the British a chance to flank the fort without difficulty, while unoccupied hills nearby offered prime artillery positions. “It is rare in military history for a commander to be faced by such a range of options,” notes Geoffrey Regan, “any one of which guaranteed success.”

Instead, Abercrombie opted for a suicidal frontal assault. The result was a bloodbath: 2,000 men fell, including nearly half of the famous “Black Watch” Highland regiment, and the attack was repulsed. Abercrombie lost his job to Edward Amherst, who captured Ticonderoga a year later with fewer men at a fraction of the cost.

9:FitzRoy James Henry Somerset

2nd Baron Raglan (1788-1855)

The Crimean War (1853-1856) is the apotheosis of British military incompetence, a conflict mismanaged on every level. Presiding over it was Lord Raglan, a former aide to the Duke of Wellington completely out of his depth. “Without the military trappings,” wrote Cecil Woodham-Smith, “one would never have guessed him to be a soldier.”

Raglan was an amiable man but at 65 years-old he was senile and unhealthy. On multiple occasions, he referred to the Russians as “the French,” forgetting France was now his ally. His inability to sort out differences amongst his subordinates, especially cavalry commanders Lucan and Cardigan, led to disaster in Balaclava’s infamous Charge of the Light Brigade.

Raglan blundered into victory at the Alma, making assaults to capture and recapture the same ground and allowing the routed Russians to escape unhindered. His mismanagement of Balaclava turned a potential victory into an epochal gaffe; the Light Brigade’s fate hinged on his inability to articulate a clear order. His troops then hunkered into trenches before Sebastopol, dying of disease and cold from atrocious medical care and inadequate provisions. Raglan suffered along with his troops, and in 1855 died of dysentery.

8:Sir Redvers Buller

1839-1908

“A brave man who loved action but feared responsibility for the lives of others” (Byron Farwell), Buller was Britain’s equivalent of Ambrose Burnside. Affable and well-liked, he had no business commanding an army. Early in the Boer War he lost battle after battle, never realizing infantry assaults against well-entrenched opponents rarely works. Spion Kop (January 23-24, 1900) is a representative case.

Buller’s first mistake was delegating responsibility to Charles Warren, his equally incompetent second-in-command. Warren’s lead brigade smashed into the teeth of the Boer position, becoming pinned down between two Boer forces. Without entrenchment tools, artillery support or proper leadership they were forced to endure a brutal crossfire.

Buller’s non-management is inexplicable. He made no effort to reinforce Warren, even calling off a flank attack that may have won the day. 1,700 troops fought while 28,000 remained idle. When Highland troops launched an unauthorized charge he angrily ordered them to withdrawal – after it succeeded! Ultimately 1,500 men died pointlessly. The bright side? Buller and Warren were finally sacked.

7:William Howe

5th Viscount Howe (1729-1814)

As Britain’s commander-in-chief in the Revolutionary War, Howe won several battles and executed one brilliant campaign. But nearly all were Pyrrhic victories, Howe winning the battlefield while forfeiting long-term advantage.

Howe managed the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, winning a tactical victory only after suffering 30 percent casualties. Howe then offered a passive defense of Boston, playing cards instead of campaigning and ultimately abandoning the city without a fight.

Howe redeemed himself routing George Washington’s army on Long Island and seizing New York City. Howe’s hesitance in attacking Brooklyn Heights, however, allowed Washington to escape. Worse, Howe left scattered outposts throughout New Jersey, allowing Washington easy victories at Trenton and Princeton that winter.

Howe’s final blunder came during 1777’s Saratoga Campaign. John Burgoyne’s New York offensive threatened to split the colonies in two, and Howe was to join in a pincer movement against Horatio Gates’ Continentals. Howe instead marched on Philadelphia. He won a costly victory at Brandywine and captured Philadelphia but again allowed Washington to escape. Meanwhile Burgoyne was trounced by Gates and forced to surrender – an event that brought France into the war. After this debacle, Howe was finally sacked.

6:John Whitelocke

1757-1833

Sir John Fortescue described Whitelocke as “bound up indissolubly with foolish expeditions.” He spent most of his career in the West Indies, notably in Britain’s disastrous attempts to conquer Santo Domingo during Touissant L’Overture’s slave revolt. He earns his place here for mismanaging the 1807 Buenos Aires expedition, a costly sideshow of the Napoleonic Wars.

Whitelocke’s troops landed outside Buenos Aires on July 1st and routed a token Spanish force. However, Whitelocke delayed following up, giving local militia time to organize. Whitelocke’s troops marched into the city, only to face a hostile citizenry. Every window housed a sniper, an artilleryman or an angry local with a pot full of boiling oil. Whitelocke exercised little control, allowing his force to be divided and attacked piecemeal in the streets.

Trapped in Buenos Ares, Whitelocke capitulated to Spanish General Liniares on August 12th. He’d lost more than 3,000 of his 10,000-man force in the meantime. He was ignominiously cashiered upon returning to England.

5:Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend

1861-1924

To hear Charles Townshend tell it, he was a genius comparable to Napoleon and Clausewitz. The 43,000 troops lost during the Siege of Kut might beg to differ. Driven by ambition and overconfidence, Townshend led his 6th Indian Division into Britain’s greatest humiliation of World War I.

Ordered to advance on Baghdad in September 1915, Townshend expressed private misgivings. Publicly though, he leaped at the chance for glory, dreaming himself Governor of Mesopotamia. After several initial victories, stiffening Turkish resistance and heavy casualties stopped Townshend’s advance. Ordered to withdraw to Basra, Townshend instead hunkered down in the village of Kut.

Townshend’s men endured a horrific 147-day siege. Townshend made little effort to escape or prevent the Turks from surrounding him. He even forbade sorties on the grounds that “withdrawing” afterwards sapped morale! A hastily-organized relief force lost 23,000 men trying to raise the siege. His troops decimated by starvation and cholera, Townshend finally surrendered on April 29th, 1916.

Townshend enjoyed a cushy captivity in Constantinople while his troops endured forced labor. The British government was so embarrassed by Kut that they censored mention of it. Townshend became a Lieutenant-General, knight and MP, but history remembers him as an arrogant boob.

4:Arthur Percival

1887-1966

When Japan entered World War II, Britain was understandably preoccupied with Nazi Germany. The Japanese overran Hong Kong, Malay and Burma in lightning campaigns. The biggest prize, however, was Singapore, the heavily-fortified port considered “the Gibraltar of the East.” Fortunately for Japan, its opponent was the singularly inept Arthur Percival.

Percival apparently occupied a strong position. His 85,000 Commonwealth troops vastly outnumbered Yamashita’s 36,000 Japanese. But his men were badly overstretched, with few tanks or modern planes to oppose Yamashita. Percival’s myopic focus on a naval attack – he believed landward defenses would be “bad for the morale of troops and civilians” – ceded initiative to Yamashita, who navigated the “impassible” Malay jungle and overwhelmed the British. Percival folded with a whimper, surrendering to Yamashita in “the worst disaster in British history” (Winston Churchill).

Unlike Townshend, Percival endured imprisonment just as bad as his men. Percival came out of it worse, however; he became the only Lieutenant-General in British history not to receive a knighthood.

3:Sir Charles Maccarthy

1764-1824

What’s worse than surrendering an entire army? How about utterly destroying one? “A decent, proud, but stupid man” (James M. Perry), MacCarthy inherited a difficult situation as Governor of Africa’s Gold Coast. Ongoing disputes with the powerful Ashanti tribe led to war in 1824. MacCarthy mismanaged the resultant campaign in bizarrely comic fashion.

MacCarthy anticipated a colonial mistake repeated by Custer, Chelmsford and Baratieri. Starting with a 6,000-man force, he divided it into four uneven columns. MacCarthy’s own force numbered a mere 500, against 10,000 Ashanti. When the Ashanti initiated battle on January 20th, the other columns were tens of miles away.

At the battle’s onset, MacCarthy ordered his musicians to play God Save the King, thinking this would scare the Ashanti away. It did not. A ferocious battle ensued, MacCarthy’s troops holding their own until ammunition began running out. Hard-pressed, MacCarthy called up his reserve ammunition, only to find macaroni instead of bullets!

The Ashanti overran and massacred the British force, with only 20 survivors. MacCarthy was killed, his heart eaten and head used as a fetish for years. It took 50 years of intermittent warfare to subdue the Ashanti.

2:William Hicks

1830-1883

Assigned to suppress the Mahdist Uprising in the Sudan, Hicks led what Winston Churchill called “the worst Army that has ever marched to war” – a rabble of Egyptian prisoners and ex-rebels, some shipped to the front in shackles. Arrogant British officials assumed this paltry force would put the pesky Mohammedans in their place. Hicks proved them wrong.

In fall 1883, Hicks marched his jerry-rigged 10,000-man army into Sudan. Misled by treacherous guides, Hicks’ army fell victim to the desert clime, losing hundreds to desertion and dehydration. On November 3rd, the Mahdists, 40,000 strong, finally pounced at the oasis of El Obeid. After two days of desperate fighting, the army was overrun and massacred, with all but 500 men killed (Hicks included). Hicks’ stupendous failure set the stage for Charles Gordon’s doomed stand at Khartoum and fifteen years of fighting in Sudan.

1:William George Keith Elphinstone

1782-1842

Britain won the Anglo-Afghan War’s first round, routing Dost Mohammed and capturing Kabul. But the Afghans hated English rule and quickly revolted. Into this firestorm stepped William Elphinstone, the only man to lose an entire British army.

Riddled with gout and heart disease, Elphinstone was a poor choice to command. He arrived in Kabul in 1842, with disaster looming. British encampments were sighted lower than Kabul’s city walls, with provisions located outside them. Afghan bandits murdered Britons who ventured out of camp.

Patrick Macrory characterizes Elphinstone as “[seeking] every man’s advice… he was at the mercy of the last speaker.” Fatally indecisive, he allowed Afghans to kill envoys Alexander Burns and William Macnaghten, capture his supplies and snipe at his men without response. Elphinstone finally capitulated, agreeing to withdraw his army to India.

Elphinstone’s army, accompanied by thousands of camp followers, staggered through the Afghan mountains. Their numbers were whittled down by disease, cold weather and incessant Afghan attacks. In the Khyber passes, the Afghans finally massacred the survivors. A single European, Dr. Brydon, survived of 16,000 who’d left Kabul. Elphinstone himself died in Afghan captivity.

Novelist George Macdonald Fraser aptly called Elphinstone “the greatest military idiot, of our own or any day.”

Source:http://listverse.com/

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Top ten Unique Places in the World

The Earth is a miraculous place and with the advent of technology, places that were remote and hidden have been finding their way into the eyes of the world. Traveling isn’t always a possibility for everyone; the internet gives a picture view into the places we can’t physically visit, and opens up the wonders of our planet. This list looks at some of the most unique areas around the world. The list includes natural areas and those created by humans. They are listed in the order I found and researched them, and are by no means diminished by their order on the list.
10:Pamukkale
Turkey

Pamukkale means cotton castle, and has also been called the white castle because of the vast whiteness caused by the high concentration of calcite in the water. Travertine sedimentary deposits have created the white terraces, petrified waterfalls and mineral forests that make up the landscape. The 17 hot springs are heated by an underground volcano. The beautiful area of Pamukkale, Turkey, has been used as a healing spa for thousands of years. The healing properties of the area drew people from all over, and the Romans built the ancient city of Hieropolis there. To help preserve the area, hotels and access roads were taken down and man-made pools were created to help in keeping the natural beauty of Pamukkale.

9:Nine Hells of Beppu

Japan

Beppu is home to over 2,800 hot springs and is found on the island of Kyushu. The Nine hells of Beppu are some of the more unique springs in the area. Hell 1 is Umi Jigoku meaning “sea hell”. The pool is a turquoise blue and is hot enough to boil eggs. Hell 2 is Oniishibou, meaning “shaven head hell” and gets its name from the boiling gray mud. The mud bubbles to the surface and resembles the shaved head of Buddhist monks. Hell 3 is Shiraike Jigoku meaning “white pond hell” and is filled with boiling white water caused by the high calcium concentrations. Hell 4 is Yama Jigoku meaning “mountain hell. Yama Jigoku was made by a mud volcano that spewed so much that it created a small mountain surrounded by small pools. Hell 5 is Kamada Jigoku “cooking pot hell”. This is a collection of boiling hot springs that are flanked by a red devil statue featured as the cook. Hell 6 is Oniyama Jigoku, meaning “devil’s mountain hell”. Oniyama is a very strong stream that can pull 1 ½ train cars, and is also home to about 100 hellish crocodiles. Hell 7 is Kinryu Jigoku “golden dragon hell”. This spring is featured with a steaming dragon. The steam is supplied by the steam of the spring and is directed out of the dragon’s nostrils. The dragon gives the illusion of flying when water spouts out at sunrise. Hell 8 is Chinoike Jigoku, meaning “blood pond hell”. Chinoike gets its name from the bright reddish colored water caused by ferrous (containing iron) minerals in the pond. Hell 9 is Tatsumaki Jigoku, meaning “spout hell”. Tatsumaki is a geyser that spouts every 30 minutes and has a temperature of about 105 degrees Celsius.

8:Sanqingshan

China

Sanqingshan has been considered a sacred place. Used by Taoists for meditation, and believed to lead to immortality it’s easy to see why. Sanqingshan is shrouded in mists for 200 days of the year. The mist gives an otherworldly quality to the mountain, along with thousands of streams that pour into pools, granite formations that resemble silhouettes of humans and animals, and strangely shaped pine trees. The pools and vegetation create unique environments that lure many exotic and rare birds and animals to make their home there. Sanqingshan is home to about 2,500 plant species. This is one of the only places to find the plants that are used in making traditional Chinese medicines.

7:The Plain of Jars

Lao

The Plain of Jars is one of the oldest archeological mysteries in Southeast Asia. Located on the plateau of Xieng Khouang, in the mountains of Indochina, there are about 90 different jars sites. Each site contains from 1 to 400 jars. It has been estimated that they were created 3,000 years ago, and are made of sandstone, limestone, granite, breccias and conglomerate, with the majority being made of sandstone. The tallest jar is about 9 ft. tall and all are made from their own individual slab of stone. At first glance they appear to be haphazardly placed, with some standing upright and others on their sides, pointing in different directions. Further studies have revealed that the jars are placed in positions that form the constellation patterns of the stars. There has been lots of speculation about the purpose of the jars – drinking glasses for a giant race, being used to collect rainwater, or as burial urns. Most of the jars are empty, but a few have been found with bodies or tools inside, or filled with miniature Buddha statues. Exploration is hard as the area is littered with unexploded bombs from the Secret War.

6:Spotted Lake of Osoyoos

British Columbia Canada

 

Spotted Lake of Osoyoos was sacred to the First Nations of Okanagan Valley Indians. Osoyoos means narrowing waters in the Okanagan language, and is used to describe what happens to the lake. The lake is a saline endorheic lake, which means it is a closed body of water with no outflow or inflow from other bodies of water. The lake has high concentrates of many different minerals, and contains some of the highest quantities of magnesium sulfate, calcium and sodium sulfates in the world. There are also eight other lesser minerals in the water, including small amounts of silver and titanium. The minerals in the lake are very beneficial, and were mined during WWI to use in the making of ammunition for the war. The minerals are what give the lake its uniqueness. During the summer, as the water evaporates, spots are formed which have different colors depending on which mineral is most present. The spots crystallize and form walkways of different colors. The colors can be white, yellow, blue or green. The lake is on private property and they allow very little public access.

5:Chamarel Falls and the Colored Earth
Mauritius

 

The Republic of Mauritius is an island nation located off the southeast coast of Africa. It is part of an archipelago formed from a now dormant undersea volcano. Mauritius is home to two natural wonders. The first is Chamarel Falls, which are three thin waterfalls that fall about 300 ft. down a plateau. They are the tallest waterfalls in Mauritius. Mauritius was once known only for its waterfalls, then in the 1960s, the colored dunes were discovered. The colored sand was created from clay made of lava cooling off at different times. The effect caused the 7 different colors of sand to form; they include red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow. The most unique aspect of the sands is the fact that if you take all the colors and mix them together, they will naturally separate and rejoin the correct color grouping that they belong to. How this happens is a mystery to scientists who have tried to solve the strange properties of the sand. Another mystery of the sand is that there is no visible erosion. The area has a heavy rainy season so erosion should be a definite effect of nature.

4:Rio Tinto

Spain

The Rio Tinto runs from the Sierra Moreno Mountains down to the Gulf of Cádiz in Huelva, Spain. Rio Tinto translates into red river and this is exactly how the river appears. High levels of iron in the water cause the red coloring of the river. The river has been mined for copper, gold and silver from ancient times, and continues as of today. The Rio Tinto has the oldest mines in the world, which are believed to be the fabled King Solomon’s mines. Due to all the mining, the river has a high acidic content and is home to organisms that survive in extreme conditions. This has led to scientific study of the river, used in the study of the underground lakes of Mars and Jupiter. The link to outer space seems appropriate, as the Rio Tinto area has an alien lunar like landscape. The mining has created walls of terraced rock that has formed a natural amphitheater.

3:Fly Geyser Reno

Nevada

Fly Geyser was accidentally created in 1916 while drilling a well for water, though they didn’t start forming until 1960. The spot picked had an unknown geothermal area. The heated water eventually found a weak spot in the well and pushed itself to the surface. The minerals started building up to create a mini volcano of about 5 ft. tall, with layers of terraces. The terraces have different colors from the minerals in the water and the geothermal water has found more weak spots to create two more geysers nearby. The water spouts continuously and fills holes and hollows in the terraces, to give the area a surreal look. Water where there isn’t much water to begin with has attracted swans, ducks, and other animals to the area. Fish also swim through the ponds, introduced by an unknown human dropping the eggs in the water.

2:Vale Da Lua

Brazil

Vale Da Lua is a stone basin that has been carved out by the San Miguel River. The name translates to valley of the moon and was given that name because the erosion of the rocks by the river has left them smooth, and in shades of gray similar to the look of the moon. The valley has some of the oldest rock formations in the world, with an estimated age of 1.8 billion years old. The river has created caves, grottoes, waterfalls and bizarre rock formations, to form a labyrinth in the narrow canyon walls. Seen from space, the area is the most luminous on earth. Quartz and the smoothness of the rocks cause the glow. The surrounding forest is abundant with wildlife and lays claim to many varieties of orchids. The river has made the area a work in progress, as it continues to erode and change the landscape.

1:Caño Cristales

Colombia

Caño Cristales is a river located in the Serrania de la Macarena Mountains. The area where the river is found is so remote that you can only get there by horse, donkey, or on foot. Caño Cristales is filled with waterfalls, rapids, wells and hollows, with water so clear you can see all the way to the bottom. During most of the year the river seems like any other, with the water coursing over green algae rocks. Then during the period of time between the wet season and the dry season – which happens between September–November – the river transforms, becoming a river of color. The algae in the water produce a riot of color; red, blue, green, black and yellow line the river. This river has no fish because of the complexity of the channels. Caño Cristales has been called “The River of Five Colors”, “The Liquid Rainbow” and “The River That Ran Away From Paradise” and it’s honestly easy to see why.

Source: listverse.com

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Sporting Heroes Unfamiliar to Americans

It’s a common fact, although some will deny it, that most people favor their own nation, or even continent, sometimes to the extreme. America for example, awards Oscar, Grammy and Emmy trophies to mainly Americans, yet they claim that these are international awards.

One would expect this to only apply in the entertainment industry, however this is also the case in the sporting world. For example, Football, which is, without a doubt, the most popular international sport, completely gets ignored by the US, due to America’s lack of achievements (this also applies to Rugby, Cricket, Formula 1 and many other international sports).

Football giants such as Diego Maradona, George Best, Zinedine Zidane, Michel Platini and Lev Yashin, might be famous worldwide, but they are widely unknown in the US. Likewise, American football is only known mainly in America (hence the name!), the vast majority of the players are American, yet they are known in the US, as “world champions.” The same could also be said for baseball, even when other nations beat the US, for example during the Olympics (Japan, Korea, and Cuba beat the US regularly), yet American national champions are still known as world champions… slightly ironic!

Of course, there are many American global greats such as Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Rocky Marciano, Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Pete Sampras, Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Larry Bird, Lance Armstrong, Oscar De La Hoya, Greg Louganis, just to name few, but one does wonder when he sees names (mainly in the American media) such as Tom Brady, Reggie Bush, Jerry Rice, Derek Jeter and many more, being labelled as “the best in the world” if that really is a valid title. How can you be the best in the entire world, when you are competing in a sport that is predominantly played by one nation?

Here is an unbiased list of 15 global and worldwide sporting legends that you won’t hear about in the US, even though they have all been true world champions.

Note – there are already many lists about all time great legends from soccer, rugby, cricket and F1, so for the purpose of this list, these sports have been excluded. Special thanks to Katie the “Ainglish,” without her help, this list wouldn’t be half as good.


15:Yuriy Sedykh

A Soviet legend of athletics, who dominated the world of hammer throwing during the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Unlike many hammer throwers, Sedykh threw off three turns rather than four. He felt three turns were sufficient, as he threw nearly the same distances with four turns in practice. He won gold medals at the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics, as well as taking first place at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1991 World Championships in Athletics. He also won three gold medals at the European games.

He couldn’t defend his title at the Olympics of Los Angeles, in 1984, because the Soviet Union boycotted the American Olympic Games. He would have probably added another gold medal to his impressive collection, since he was by far the best in the world during the Olympics of 1984. He still holds the world record, which is the longest current world record from any event of the athletics for men, a world record which he set back in the summer of 1986. He broke the world record a total six times.

14:“Iron” Mike Zambidis

There’s no doubt that if this guy was an American, his name would be in every American fighting magazine and he would be as famous as “Iron” Mike Tyson was. Mike is a true living legend of kickboxing, who has delivered some of the most impressive knock-outs in the history of any combat sport, which is the reason why he got the nickname, “Iron Mike.” Zambidis is a professional Greek kick boxer and martial artist. He is a 15 time World Champion with an impressive record of 148 wins (85 KO victories) in 165 fights. He has won every world title there is, including W.O.K.A, W.I.P.U, W.K.B.F, K-1 World Max world titles, among others. He is considered by many analysts as one of the greatest pound for pound kick boxers who ever lived.

13:Regla Torres Herrera

Regla Torres Herrera is for women’s volleyball what Soviet Aleksandr Savin or the American Karch Kiraly are for men’s volleyball, one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all time. Standing at 1.91m in her socks, Regla Torres Herrera was a towering presence on the volleyball court for the Cuban national team. One of the most dominant middle hitters and blockers ever, she guided her team to a hat-trick of Olympic gold medals between 1992 and 2000 as well as World Championship trophies in 1994 and 1998. During the 1992 Olympic Games she became the youngest ever gold medalist in volleyball, after helping Cuba defeat the Unified Team 3-1 as a 17 year-old. The International Volleyball Federation named Torres the best female player of the 20th century.

12:Jan Železný

A dominant figure in the world of javelin, Zelezný had the right genes for javelin throwing and that showed from a really young age. After winning bronze at the World Championships in 1987 and silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he started dominating the sport from the early 1990s. Zelezný claimed Olympic gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and three World Championships titles in 1993, 1995 and 2001, setting five world records in the process, and was voted IAAF Athlete of the Year in 2000. He is the only athlete to throw more than 94 meters with the new type of javelin, something he achieved five times.

11:David Douillet

David Douillet is a retired French judoka and politician. He is considered the most decorated judoka in history and, at the Olympics of 2000 in Sydney, he became the heavyweight fighter with the most international titles. With six major international titles (2 Olympic titles, 4 world titles), he passed the Japanese Yasuhiro Yamashita (1 Olympic title, 4 world titles) who won his titles in the 1970s. He won a total 11 medals in the major competitions, 3 at the Olympics, 4 in the world championships and 4 in the European championships.

The biggest problem during his career was his multiple injuries which finally forced him to retire at the age of 31, after his victory in the Olympic tournament in Sydney. It’s possible that he could have won more titles, if he didn’t have to deal with so many injuries during his career.

10:Larissa Latynina

Her name is synonymous with dominance and victory. She won 18 Olympic medals, more than any other competitor in any sport, and was responsible for establishing the Soviet Union as the dominant force in gymnastics. She also holds the record for most individual medals (14 outside of team events) in Olympic history. Few athletes have dominated a sport to the extent of gymnast Larissa. During that period, the graceful Soviet star displayed her class at three different Olympic Games. She’s the only female athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals to this day, and it’s a safe bet to say that Larissa will be the female athlete with the most gold and total medals for a very long time.

9:Peter Snell

Born on 17 December, 1938, in Opunake, New Zealand, Peter Snell is one of the best middle-distance runners of all time. He became the first man since 1920 to win gold medals at both the 800m and 1500m at the same Olympics. Four years earlier he had won his first gold, in the 800 metres at the Rome Olympics. At the absolute height of his career, Snell stunned New Zealand and the athletics world as he decided to quit and pursue other goals in life. When he ended his career, in 1965, as a 26-year-old man, Snell was a triple Olympic champion, a double gold medal winner at the Commonwealth Games, and he had set multiple world records, most notably at the 800m and 1000m. Peter Snell, is a giant of athletics and a legend in New Zealand.

8:Sawao Kato

Kato is one of the most successful gymnasts ever at the Olympics, with his 8 gold medals and 12 overall. Also, he has won more Olympic gold medals than any other male gymnast and more Olympic gold medals than any Asian athlete in the history of any sport.

He is his country’s most decorated sportsman and a member of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. As of 2011, Sawao Kato is one of only nine people ever in the history of the Olympic Games to have won at least eight Olympic gold medals, with legends such as Michael Phelps (14), Larisa Latynina (9), Carl Lewis (9), Mark Spitz (9), Paavo Nurmi (9), Birgit Fischer (8), Bjørn Dæhlie (8) and Jenny Thompson (8) being the other athletes of this elite group.

7:Joe Calzaghe

No matter what you say about the Welsh Dragon, it will never be enough. Joe is simply one of the greatest boxers of all time, and the greatest super middleweight boxer who ever lived. Joseph William Calzaghe, is a Welsh former professional boxer. He is the former WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF, The Ring and British super middleweight champion, and The Ring light heavyweight champion. Calzaghe is the longest-reigning world champion in the last 30 years, having held the WBO super middleweight title for over eleven years, until he relinquished the title to concentrate on fighting at light heavyweight. He retired in February 2009, with an undefeated record, becoming one of the very few legends (with others being giants of the sport such as Rocky Marciano and Laszlo Papp) to retire as an undefeated world champion. He’s also one of the few boxers in history who won every major belt there is, including The Ring’s magazine belt in two different divisions. During his impressive career Joe Calzaghe did beat many other great boxers such as Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins in the US, in front of a hostile American crowd, undefeated champions at the moment like Jeff Lacy, in a must-watch fight, where Joe won all 12 rounds and gave Lacy a boxing lesson; he also won against an undefeated (at the moment) world champion Mikkel Kessler and Chris Eubank. Calzaghe retired as a champion with a perfect record of 46 wins (32 KO’s) and no losses. Most analysts agree that he belongs in the elite pantheon of the sport and he’s arguably the greatest British boxer of all time.

6:Sébastien Loeb

The Frenchman is the modern day “Napoleon” for France, and how couldn’t he be, with all the records and achievements that this man has set already; there’s no doubt that he definitely deserves to be in here. He has won the world championship a record eight times in a row and also holds several other WRC records. For one to realize how dominant Loeb is, and how he took the sport to another level, one would have only to check the numbers. The record for the most victories in the history of the sport was 26, held by another legend, Carlos Zainz, while the record for the most world championships won, was 4, held by Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen, but all this was before Loeb’s era. With a total 8 world championships, 67 victories, 808 stage wins, 103 podiums (first and only in history with over 100) and 1281 points, Sébastien could claim the title of the greatest driver-athlete of all time, from any auto and motor sport. The scariest part of all though is that he’s still active and hungry for more titles.

5:Pyrros Dimas

 

Pyrros is the greatest weightlifter of all time, according to the International Federation of Weightlifting, which gave him that honor back in 2005, and named him the world’s ambassador for the sport in 2011. Dimas did a lot to earn such honors during his career, of course; he won a record four medals at the Olympics and he became a six times World Champion. In terms of pound for pound strength, he has no equal. His Olympic runs have not been surpassed to this day. His legacy in his homeland of Greece, as well as worldwide, is undeniable. He won a total 16 medals in the major competitions, with 12 being gold; 3 consecutive gold at the Olympics of Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney, 6 gold in the world championships and 3 gold in the European games. He used to break the world record regularly, a fact which forced the media to joke about his habit and hobby of breaking the world record so often.

At the Olympics of 2004, in his homeland Athens, he tried to become the first weightlifter in the history of the sport to win 4 gold medals in 4 different Olympic Games. Coming off his multiple injuries and three surgeries on his knees which had forced him to an early retirement for nearly 3 years, most analysts wouldn’t give him a slim chance to make it even in the finals of the tournament. Most saw his participation at the Olympics of Athens, as an honorary competition, as his last stand in front of his people and didn’t have any expectations from him to win a medal, or even to be competitive at his age, and with his injuries. But the Greek Lion, as they used to call him, had a different opinion and was going to shock the world one more time. With his wrist taped, Pyrros took the weightlifting platform and lifted among the best of a new generation of warriors. In the end it all came down to one last lift, one last feat of strength. Pyrros would attempt a weight that would put him in the gold medal position.

With the crowd in silence, Dimas heaved the weight from the ground to his chest and stood up with it. It was clear by the look on his face he was hurting. The weight was too much, and his confidence that was always there in other Olympic games was gone. Dimas attempted to push the weight from his chest to over his head but his battle-worn arms gave out and he dropped the weight. Dimas fell to his back in a half roll and laid there with his hands over his face. To many in the crowd it was like watching a god fall from grace. In his homeland Athens, Greece, the modern Heracles had finally lost. He was hurt, in pain and he would not make further history with another Gold medal; Dimas stood up, took off his weightlifting shoes and left them on the platform signaling he was done with weightlifting. He had left all he had there, just like another great Greek had done against the Romans thousands of years ago, Pyrrhus of Epirus, the man that Pyrros Dimas took his name from.

4:Sergey Bubka

 

“I love the pole vault because it is a professor’s sport. One must not only run and jump, but one must think. Which pole to use, which height to jump, which strategy to use. I love it because the results are immediate and the strongest is the winner. Everyone knows it. In everyday life that is difficult to prove.” – Sergey Bubka

Serhiy Nazarovych is a retired Ukrainian pole vaulter. Repeatedly voted as the world’s best athlete, he represented the Soviet Union until its collapse, in 1991. Bubka won 6 gold medals in 6 consecutive IAAF World Championships, more than any athlete from any event, in the history of Athletics world championships, an Olympic gold, a European gold, 4 gold in the world Indoor championships and broke the world record for men’s pole vaulting 35 times (17 outdoor and 18 indoor records). He was the first to clear 6.0 meters and the only person to clear 6.10 meters (20 ft). He still holds the current outdoor world record of 6.14 meters (20 feet 13⁄4 inches), set on 31 July 1994 in Sestriere, Italy, and the current indoor world record of 6.15 meters, set on 21 February 1993 in Donetsk, Ukraine. Bubka has received many international honors for his achievements and contributions to the world of sports, such as Prince of Asturias Award in Sports, in 1991, Sportsman of the Year for 1997 by the newspaper L’Équipe, UNESCO Champion for Sport in 2003, and in 2005 he received the Panathlon international Flambeau d’Or for his contribution to the development and promotion of sports. Bubka is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

3:Laszlo Papp

 

 

Here’s another case of an athlete who had the bad luck to be born in the wrong country, in the wrong time. Papp became the first man in history to win three successive gold medals at the Olympics of 1948, 1952 and 1956, something that only Felix Savon and Teofilo Stevenson succeeded after him; he also won gold in two European championships in Oslo and Milan. After three Olympic gold medals there was little left for Papp to achieve in the amateurs. He had gathered an unbelievable record of 306 official victories, only three losses and six draws. Papp was interested in fighting as a professional and, even though it was against the principles of the Communist society, the officials gave him their blessing as a contribution for all the success Papp had brought to his homeland. Papp was getting older and running out of time, but he still got his chance to fight for the European title in 1965, which he won by knocking out Danish champion Chris Christensen in eight rounds. Papp won the rematch faster than that, twice, and defended his title successfully for a total five times. A victory over Sugar Ray Robinson’s former challenger, Ralph “Tiger” Jones, proved that Papp was to be taken seriously in the pro level as well, even at his old age.

Papp already had a contract fighting for the world title in the United States, and he was willing to travel there, but the Hungarian officials prevented it. They announced that it was time for the 39 year-old Papp to end his career and to come back to his homeland and retire. The loyal man that Papp was, he did that and finished his professional career being undefeated in 29 fights, with 27 victories and two draws.

Papp was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, in 2001. In 1989, WBC President José Sulaimán, gave Papp an award for ‘Best amateur and professional boxer of all time’ and granted him honorary champion status of the World Boxing Council. Papp was known as a quiet, honest man who never bragged about himself but did his talking inside the ring. In there, his fists told a story that will never be forgotten from the minds of the boxing fans, at least the true boxing fans outside the US, where boxing is a sport and not a battlefield of financial, racial and political games of boxing promoters, boxing fans and media.

2:Yiannis Kouros

 

Probably he deserves the #1 spot of this list, but I was afraid that I would be accused of personal and national favoritism, considering my previous list of the 15 most influential Greeks. Even though he’s the absolute number 1 in my personal list of athletes, I will give him the second spot and just list the facts and numbers about the athlete Yannis Kouros, and you may be the judge.

According to the facts and record books (Guinness included) the legendary Greek ultra-marathon runner holds more world records than any athlete in the history of any popular sport with 134 world records. It’s recorded officially that he’s the man who has run the most hours, days, weeks, months, years and miles than any other man in the history of mankind. New York Times – among other international papers and magazines – covered the NY 6-day race back in 1984, where Kouros broke 16 World Records and left the whole world speechless.

He’s the athlete with the most records in the Guinness Book of World Records (31) from any sport, he has won 71 ultra marathons in every continent, more than anyone in history and he holds, to this day, all the world records in the following races: 1) 100 miles Road, 2) 100 km Track, 3) 1000 km Road, 4) 1000 miles Road, 5) 12h Road, 6) 12h Track, 7) 24h Road, 8) 24h Track, 9) 48h Road, 10) 48h Track, 11) 6 days Track and 12) 6 days Road.

Some selected titles or expressions that Y. Kouros has been called by the world Press: “Ultra-marathon God,” “King of the road,” “Emperor of Ultra-running,” “Golden Greek,” “Bionic Kouros,” “Miracle Man,” “Superhuman,” “Poet in Motion,” “Fearless,” “Incomparable,” “The Greatest,” “Greek Streak,” “Super Kouros,” “Relentless,” “Amazing Yiannis,” and “Speed Kouros.”

Kouros has also written over 1,000 poems, several of which appear in his book Symblegmata (Clusters) and the book The Six-Day Run of the Century.

1:Aleksandr Karelin

 

 

 Probably the most famous athlete in the US, from the 15 in the list, but I still feel like it’s not enough for an athlete of his status, the little respect and recognition he enjoys in the US, from the hardcore fans of wrestling mainly. Karelin holds a Ph.D. in Physical Education. Nicknamed the “Russian Bear,” “Alexander the Great,” and “The Experiment,” he went undefeated in international competition for 13 years (spanning from 1987 to 2000). After going so many years undefeated in international competition, and six years without giving up a point, thanks to his injuries and broken ribs only 5 months before the Olympics, he suffered an upset loss to Rulon Gardner in the gold-medal match at the Sydney Olympics. A healthy Karelin had earlier beaten Gardner easily, in 1997.

He is universally considered to be the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time and many agree that he might be the greatest athlete of all time from any combat or fighting sport. Karelin was over 6’5 tall (1,96cm) and weighed 130 kg (286 lb). During his incredible career he won 4 medals at the Olympics, gold at the Olympics of 1988, 1992, 1996 and a silver at his last Olympics of 2000; he also won 9 world titles in 9 participations and 12 European titles in 12 participations. His dominance on the highest level of competition is unmatched by any other athlete from any other combat sport. Karelin was famous for his reverse body lift, the “Karelin Lift,” where facing the opponent who was lying flat on the mat to keep from being thrown, Karelin hoisted his opponents into the air and slammed them violently to the mat. This devastatingly effective maneuver, when properly executed, awarded Karelin 5 points per throw, the maximum awarded in Greco-Roman wrestling. The throw had long been in use by lighter wrestlers but not by heavyweights since the technique required immense strength. Karelin’s ability to perform this throw against elite opponents weighing as much as 130 kg was amazing to audiences as well as other participants and observers of the sport. FILA (International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles) named Karelin as the greatest wrestler ever, as soon as Karelin retired from the sport back in 2000.

Source: listverse.com

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