Editing George Hackenschmidt (section)

== Personal life ==
During [[World War I]], Hackenschmidt was interned by the [[German Empire]] authorities in [[Berlin]] with his wife. His brother Bruno, who was also a wrestler, was also captured in Germany and died in captivity. During [[World War II]], he lived with his wife in the family home in the south of France.<ref name=":2" />

Hackenschmidt became a naturalized French citizen in 1939, and then became a British subject in 1946. He lived with his French wife Rachel in South Norwood, London.

He was a friend of the magician [[Harry Houdini]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2010/01/houdini-defeats-hackenschmidt-and-other.html|title=Houdini Defeats Hackenschmidt' and other revelations|work=wildabouthoudini.com}}</ref> and playwright [[George Bernard Shaw]].<ref>Langsepp, Olaf (1968) ''Georg Hackenschmidt''. Tallinn. Lk. 69.</ref> As he aged, Hackenschmidt also expressed a high regard for his old opponent, Tom Jenkins, by then the wrestling coach at the US Military Academy at [[West Point]]. Hack visited Jenkins in 1939 and the two got along splendidly, with Jenkins accommodating Hackenschmidt in his home and giving him a tour of the West Point training facilities. In their mutual admiration society, they never publicly expressed any credit to Frank Gotch, and Hackenschmidt spent the rest of his life complaining about Gotch's foul tactics and his knee injury in explaining his "inexplicable" losses.<ref>[[#Chapman|Chapman]], pp. 43–44.</ref> After [[Yury Vlasov]] won and set a world record at the London tournament in July 1961, George Hackenschmidt gave him the medal and presented Vlasov his picture with a dedicatory inscription.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vlasov |first=Ju.P. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/65749776 |title=Spravedlivost ́sily |date=1989 |publisher=Lenizdat |others=I. V. Petrova |isbn=5-289-00374-6 |location=[Leningrad] |oclc=65749776}}</ref>

=== Diet ===

Throughout his life, Hackenschmidt paid strict attention to his diet. He abstained from [[Alcohol (drug)|alcohol]], [[coffee]] and [[tobacco]] and advised moderation in sexual intercourse.<ref name="Zweiniger-Bargielowska"/>
[[File:Trükipostkaart, ESM F 928-39-A 17708.jpg|thumb|Hackenschmidt {{circa}} 1908]]

In 1904, Hackenschmidt described [[rump steak]] as his favourite dish.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000747%2F19060426&page=7 |title=Hackenschmidt in Training Near Worthing|newspaper=The Leeds and Yorkshire Mercury |date=April 26, 1906|page=7|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Charles B. Cochran]] recounted that he once invited Hackenschmidt to dine at his flat in [[Piccadilly]].<ref name="Cochran 1925">{{cite book |last=Cochran |first=Charles Blake |date=1925 |title=The Secrets of a Showman |publisher=W. Heinemann |page=117}}</ref> Cochran noted that Hackenschmidt ate "eight or nine eggs, a porterhouse-steak, and a whole Camembert cheese".<ref name="Cochran 1925"/> He has been described as a considerable meat eater during the height of his wrestling career and would eat steak and half a dozen eggs as a snack but did not eat tinned foods.<ref name="Richardson 1979">{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=Maurice |date=1979 |title=Fits & Starts: Collected Pieces |publisher=Michael Joseph |page=120 |isbn=978-0718118211|quote=A natural born ascetic, Hackenschmidt has lived almost the whole of his life in training. He is a teetotaller and a non-smoker. The only cigarette he ever smoked put him flat on his back after a few puffs. At the height of his wrestling career he was a considerable meat eater, his idea of a light snack before dinner was a steak and half a dozen eggs. But he always eschewed tinned foods. For many years now he has been a strict vegetarian.}}</ref>

In 1906, Hackenschmidt told interviewers that he had reduced his meat intake and that a typical meal would be [[pea soup]], meat, vegetables and a [[rhubarb tart]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0002008%2F19060223&page=8 |title=Should We Be Vegetarians?|newspaper=The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald|date=February 23, 1906|page=8|url-access=subscription}}</ref> During this time Hackenschmidt was not a vegetarian but argued that "far too much flesh food" was consumed.<ref name="Zweiniger-Bargielowska">Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Ina. (2010). ''Managing the Body: Beauty, Health, and Fitness in Britain 1880–1939''. Oxford University Press. pp. 44-45, p. 202. {{ISBN|978-0199280520}}</ref> He preferred fresh foods including nuts over [[processed food]]s.<ref name="Zweiniger-Bargielowska"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Freedman |first=Lew |date=2018 |title=Pro Wrestling: A Comprehensive Reference Guide |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=108 |isbn=978-1-4408-5350-0|quote=He followed a vegetarian diet of fruits, nuts and raw vegetables and drank 11 pints of milk per day. He almost never ate meat and didn't even like cooked food}}</ref>

Hackenschmidt is alleged to have written that he consumed eleven [[pint]]s of [[milk]] a day for training.<ref name="Starck 2006">{{cite book |last=Starck |first=Nigel |date=2006 |title=Life After Death: The Art of the Obituary |publisher=Melbourne University Press |page=90 |isbn=0-522-85256-4}}</ref> However, this was later disputed. Hackenschmidt told [[Atholl Oakeley]] that the quantity of milk prescribed had been a misprint.<ref name="Starck 2006"/> After retiring from the ring, Hackenschmidt became a strict [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]].<ref name="Zweiniger-Bargielowska"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Frank C. |date=1975 |title=Obituaries from the Times, 1961-1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/obituariesfromti0000unse_t6s8/page/330/mode/2up |publisher=Newspaper Archive Developments Ltd |page=330 |isbn= 0-903713-98-5 | quote=He used neither alcohol nor tobacco, and though in his wrestling days he was a huge meat-eater he became in later life a strict vegetarian.}}</ref> In ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy'', it stated that Hackenschmidt developed a "system of philosophy based on the values of spirituality, vegetarianism and self-control."<ref>Rée, Jonathan; Urmson, J. O. (2005). ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy''. Routledge. p. 150. {{ISBN|0-415-32924-8}}</ref> His vegetarian diet of fresh uncooked foods avoided "everything which has been artificialised in any way".<ref name="Zweiniger-Bargielowska"/>