A well-known judo aficionado, Russian Vladimir Putin has recently made a surprising reveal about his initial foray into the world of martial arts, delivering it in a biopic about the late Anatoly Rakhlin, famous Soviet and Russian judo master who trained the boy who eventually became Russia’s head of state.
As Putin explained, in his youth, his parents initially believed that sports might distract him from studying, and objected to his emerging interest in sambo.
"They said ‘Well, it’s practically fisticuffs, so you shouldn’t do it’," the president reminisced.
The situation was eventually resolved by Rakhlin, who personally visited Putin’s parents and managed to convince them that doing sports would allow their son maintain his physical fitness and would help him “in life”.
"And they agreed," Putin said.
Earlier, the Russian president also revealed that boxing was actually the first sport he ever really tried to get into as a boy, noting that his interest in it waned after he got his nose broken.
