Editing George Hackenschmidt (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Georg Hackenschmidt.jpg|thumb|Hackenschmidt, ca. 1900]]
Georg Hackenschmidt was born on 1 August 1877 ({{OldStyleDate|20 July|1877|}}) in [[Tartu]] (Dorpat), Estonia, where he lived with his parents, [[Baltic Germans|Baltic German]] Georg Friedrich Heinrich Hackenschmidt (born 1847<ref name=":2" />) and Ida Louise Johansson, who was of [[Estonians|Estonian]]<ref name="Üks">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Üks eesti jõukangelane|url=https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=d&d=stockholmstid19581115.1.2|work=Stockholms-Tidningen Eestlastele |location=[[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]] |date=15 November 1958|access-date=22 April 2019|language=et}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ohtuleht.ee/21232/georg-hackenschmidt-valitseda-elu|title=Georg Hackenschmidt. "Valitseda elu"|date=8 May 1998|access-date=22 April 2019|work=[[Õhtuleht]]|language=et}}</ref> and [[Estonian Swedes|Swedish]] descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hackenschmidt-eu-gennet.de/resources/h_estland_schweden/Namen,%20Daten.pdf|title=Hackenschmidt Genealogy Network|work=hackenschmidt-eu-gennet.de|access-date=14 December 2010|archive-date=22 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222183031/http://www.hackenschmidt-eu-gennet.de/resources/h_estland_schweden/Namen,%20Daten.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> He had a younger brother, Bruno, and sister Alice. He later said that neither of his parents were particularly robust in stature or had any unusual physical characteristics, though his maternal grandfather was said to have been a huge and powerful man. His paternal grandfather, Christian Philipp Hackenschmidt, a [[Prussia|Prussian]] dyer, accepted Russian citizenship with his wife in 1845; he died about 1881–1882.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Langsepp |first=Olaf |title=George Hackenschmidt |publisher=Eesti raamat |year=1971 |location=Tallinn |language=et}}</ref>

From his earliest years, Hackenschmidt devoted himself to physical development, particularly at the local [[Real school]] (''Dorpater Realschule''), where he took advantage of the gym. He excelled in ''[[gorodki]]'', cycling, gymnastics, swimming, running, [[Track and field#Jumping|jumping]] and [[Olympic weightlifting|weightlifting]].<ref name=":0" /> His feats of strength astounded his teachers, as he could lift a small horse off the ground and lift 276 pounds overhead one handed. In a wrestler's bridge, he could pull a 335-pound barbell from the floor to his chest and press it overhead, bridging on his neck. He set several records in weight lifting and was considered both the strongest and the best-developed man in the world.<ref name=":1">[[#Chapman|Chapman]], p. 3.</ref>

Graduating from school in 1895, he started working at a large engineering factory in Tallinn (Reval) as a [[blacksmith]]'s apprentice. He joined the city's Athletic and Cycling Club, becoming an ardent cyclist and winning prizes, but also developed a keen interest in wrestling and weight lifting. The turning point in his life came in 1896 when another Estonian, [[Georg Lurich]], a [[Greco-Roman wrestling|Greco-Roman wrestler]] and strongman, toured in Tallinn with a small troupe, challenging any and all comers. Hackenschmidt took up the challenge and was beaten. German wrestler Fritz Konietzko came to Tallinn in 1897, and Hackenschmidt fared better.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}