What have the Klitschkos done for Olympic boxing?

[LacedUp]

I just looked through the history books and noticed that since Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko turned pro in 1996 and arriving on the world stage around the year 2000, the amount of Olympians coming from Russia/Ukraine/Former Soviet Union has increased dramatically. In 2012, Ukraine alone won as many medals as Britain. If you add their birth country of Kazakhstan and Russia to that, they won a combined 15 medals. To me that's quite impressive.

This is undoubtedly a direct consequence of the Klitschkos domination of the heavyweight scene. Do you think a similar scenario could play out in America if they were to get a dominating heavyweight champ? Or are the other sports simply too popular at this point?

[Szef]

I just looked through the history books and noticed that since Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko turned pro in 1996 and arriving on the world stage around the year 2000, the amount of Olympians coming from Russia/Ukraine/Former Soviet Union has increased dramatically. In 2012, Ukraine alone won as many medals as Britain. If you add their birth country of Kazakhstan and Russia to that, they won a combined 15 medals. To me that's quite impressive.

This is undoubtedly a direct consequence of the Klitschkos domination of the heavyweight scene. Do you think a similar scenario could play out in America if they were to get a dominating heavyweight champ? Or are the other sports simply too popular at this point?

Since the fall of Soviet Union, many Eastern Euros won Olympic medals and World Tiles in pros. I really believe that if Communism would fall in 40's, 50's
the history of boxing would be very diffrent right now

[have_not]

Since the fall of Soviet Union, many Eastern Euros won Olympic medals and World Tiles in pros. I really believe that if Communism would fall in 40's, 50's
the history of boxing would be very diffrent right now

Agree,no doubt

[LacedUp]

Since the fall of Soviet Union, many Eastern Euros won Olympic medals and World Tiles in pros. I really believe that if Communism would fall in 40's, 50's
the history of boxing would be very diffrent right now

Absolutely. No doubt about it. They are schooled extremely well. Wlad's amateur record is 135-6 or something like that. That's an insane record. Are you agreeing though that they have had a positive influence on the amateur scene or do you think they would have been tere regardless?

[Earl-Hickey]

don't mention Vitali and the olympics

[LacedUp]

don't mention Vitali and the olympics

I wasn't mentioning his accomplishments as an amateur, but rather what his accomplishments as a Pro has done for other amateurs.

[Dr Rumack]

Pretty bizarre post. The Soviet Union was always a boxing powerhouse, why would its constituent parts continuing to be major powers require explanation? And they were successful right from the beginning, long before the Klitschkos became global stars.

Also, why have you put winning as many medals as Britain as some measure of success? The Kazakhs and the Ukranians have consistently won a similar if not greater number of medals than GB since they've been eligible to enter their own teams.

Between them they've won the Val Barker trophy at 4 of the last 5 Val Barker trophies at the Olympics. And the fifth one was won by the Russians.

[LacedUp]

Pretty bizarre post. The Soviet Union was always a boxing powerhouse, why would its constituent parts continuing to be major powers require explanation? And they were successful right from the beginning, long before the Klitschkos became global stars.

Also, why have you put winning as many medals as Britain as some measure of success? The Kazakhs and the Ukranians have consistently won a similar if not greater number of medals than GB since they've been eligible to enter their own teams.

Between them they've won the Val Barker trophy at 4 of the last 5 Val Barker trophies at the Olympics. And the fifth one was won by the Russians.

If you look at the Olympic medal list, you can see for yourself that since the Klitschko's hit world level, the amount of medals won for former Soviet Union countries have increased.

The reason I mentioned Britain was because 1) They were favourites to win most medals with a great team and 2) They won most medals.

[Szef]

Absolutely. No doubt about it. They are schooled extremely well. Wlad's amateur record is 135-6 or something like that. That's an insane record. Are you agreeing though that they have had a positive influence on the amateur scene or do you think they would have been tere regardless?

I think it's both. They would've been there regardless, Klits and other EE amateurs and pros are the products of that succes. And of course they've had a positive influence, they are the living proof that going into boxing and hard work pays off in the end

[Dr Rumack]

If you look at the Olympic medal list, you can see for yourself that since the Klitschko's hit world level, the amount of medals won for former Soviet Union countries have increased.

Yeah but they've always been successful, and they've always been really strong. The reason they can now win more medals is because many more fighters can now be entered from that part of the world. It's not just the Soviet team anymore, it's the Russian team, Ukranian team, Kazakh team etc. etc.

My point isn't that the Klitschkos had no effect, it's that these countries were winning right the beginning anyway. I'm sure the Klitschkos have helped massively in popularising and promoting boxing in Eastern Europe, but the coaching and sports science infrastructure was already there from the Communist era and that's the foundation on which the success has been built.

And whatever else you might say about the Communist 'states', they sure as shit knew how to create sporting excellence.