Ivan Maximovich Poddubny also spelled Piddubny (Russian: Ива́н Максимович Подду́бный; Ukrainian: Іва́н Максимович Підду́бний; October 8, 1871 - August 8, 1949) was a Russian Empire and Soviet wrestler of Ukrainian Cossack descent[1][2][3][1][4][5]. He began his sports career around 1900 and his career lasted for about forty years.
Poddubny was born into a Zaporozhian Cossacks[2][3][1][4][5]family in the village of Krasenivka, Zolotonosha Uyezd, Poltava Governorate (now in Chornobay Raion of Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine). As a young man, Poddubny worked as a fitter in the ports of Sevastopol and Feodosiya for seven years, and in 1898 he started traveling with circus tours.
In November 1939, he was given the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, and in 1945 that of Honored Master of Sports.
During the German (Nazi) occupation, he refused to leave the Soviet Union train German wrestlers.[6]
Piddubny maintained a lifelong professional rivalry with wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko. He died undefeated on August 8, 1949, in the town of Yeysk, in the Kuban region in Southern Russia.