Vladimir Putin's many feats of strength

The Washington Post
Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:03 UTC

Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, has captained a mini-sub in the Gulf of Finland and used a motorized hang-glider to lead captive Siberian cranes to freedom. The stunts weren't unusual for a man accustomed to public displays of avocational skill. Here are a few of his many talents.

1. He's an arm-wrestler

Putin quickly defeated Rep. Dana Rohrbacher in a drunken match in Washington in the early 1990s, the California member of Congress said in September. ''His muscles are just unbelievable," Rohrbacher said. Pictured: Putin pumping his guns in an arm-wrestling contest during a visit at a summer camp in the central Tver region on Aug. 1, 2011. Read the article

2. He captains a minisub

On July 15, Putin submerged the Sea Explorer 5 bathyscaphe off the island of Gogland, 110 miles west of St. Petersburg. Putin rode the craft 200 feet down to the floor of the Gulf of Finland to see the remains of the naval frigate Oleg, which sank in 1869, Russian news reports said.

3. He hang-glides

Putin learned to fly a glider in preparation for the event in an Arctic peninsula, which the Interfax news agency reported Sept. 5, 2012. Cranes, raised in captivity, did not know how to fly south, and environmentalists have to devise an imitation lead crane to show them the way. Putin is shown in a motorized hang glider next to a Siberian white crane, on the Yamal Peninsula.

4. He's a rifleman

Putin carried a hunting rifle in the mountainous southern Siberian region of Tuva on Aug. 15, 2007.

5. He's a judo expert

Putin held a judo training session during a visit to St. Petersburg on Dec. 18, 2009. He has studied martial arts since his school days.

6. He's a sky pilot

Putin appeared in the cabin of a Russian firefighting aircraft Be-200 on Aug. 10, 2010. He was flying in a water-bombing plane that sought to stop wildfires from engulfing key nuclear sites.

7. He scuba-dives

In his wetsuit, Putin embarked on a dive to an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula on Aug. 10, 2011.

8. He races cars

Putin received instructions before driving a F1 racer on a track outside St. Petersburg on Nov. 7, 2010.

9. He catches bass

Then-President George W. Bush, right, applauded as Putin caught a striped bass on July 2, 2007, while fishing near the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

10. He rides the range, in winter ...

Putin on a horse in the Karatash area on Feb. 25, 2010.

11. ... and in the summer

Who needs a shirt? Putin appeared on a horse on vacation in Southern Siberia on Aug. 3, 2009.

12. He rolls with the bikers

With the "Night Wolves' motorcycle group, Putin thundered through the southern Russian town of Novorossiysk on Aug. 29, 2011.

13. He can ride a Harley, too

Putin, center, rode with his posse du jour on a Harley Davidson Lehman Trike near Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea on July 24, 2010.

14. He's a whale-hunter. (Gimme that crossbow!)

Whales before him, Putin aimed a crossbow on a rubber boat at the Olga Harbor of Kamchatka Peninsula. He was on a scientific expedition to study grey whales on Aug. 25, 2010.

15. He's a concert pianist (and R&B singer)

Yes, Putin did stumble through the Soviet-era anthem "Where The Motherhood Begins" at a charity concert in St. Petersburg in Dec. 10, 2010. But then the band played, he grabbed the microphone and belted out "Blueberry Hill.'' A spokesman said Putin learned the lyrics as part of his English language studies, the Daily Mail reported.

16. He's a blacksmith

Putin struck iron as he visited "Talsy" Architecture and Ethnography Museum in Irkutsk Region in eastern Siberia on Aug. 1, 2009. But can he make horseshoes?

17. He rides a snowmobile

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, left, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on a snowmobile as they chatted in southern Russia on Jan. 3, 2010. Not to worry, Putin also drives, with images showing him roaring through the woods.

Reader Comments

griffin · 2013-09-28T14:36:40Z

A man for all seasons, apparently

Vladimir Putin deserves respect for blocking the Israel / Gulf Arab backed plot to fund Islamic crazies to overrun Syria under air protection by the US.

That's in Russia's geopolitical economic interest, of course, but he carried it off and it was also the right thing to do from a humanitarian point of view.

Rowan Cocoan · 2013-09-28T15:30:31Z

Truth trumping PR.

Truth trumping PR.

Guess what? He cares for the country he represents.* Sure, there's PR aspect, because, these days,even if some benevolent, Christ-like soul found his way into office, he'd better have some PR or the idiot proles would support his removal. But 'PR' based on truth is still 'truth.'

You can't fake playing piano.

Contrast that with but a few of "our"( the US's supposed) "leaders." PR moments:

-GW Bush*t's 'compassionate' flyover Katrina's human detritus;
-His "Victory in Iraq" codpiece flightsuit.**
-Obysmal's Gulf of Mexico, post-BP/Horizon Oil Spill*** photo-op/vacation.
- Bush*t Sr's . . . where to begin. - Oh, how about that picture from 11/22/63 outsite the School Book Depository? (Like Nixon, he didn't remember where he was then... I do! and I was four!)

R.C.

*(Granted, maybe the PTB 'above' the nations of the world run every detail, or at least take the post-conflict synthesis control. But then why would there be such obvious and ongoing efforts by the PTB to eradicate/assimilate all the nations of this abused Earth into a government from the top down, called by GW Bush*t a "New World Order"/"Novus Ordo Seclorum". Despite being a pessimist, I don't think we're there yet, and that is one reason why so many still try to open the eyes of others.)

**Yes, I'm aware he was a hack F-100? pilot**** in the coveted USAF Reserve, while men I know and respect were neck deep 'in country.'

*** "Spill" implies some accident, but if one sees Halliburton's 'prescient' purchase of a huge/(world's largest?) oil spill containment company a few weeks before the Horizon Blowout, one is reminded - qute starkly - of Silverstein's purchase of the WTC - and insuring for double payment if acts of terror - weeks before 9/11, etc.

**** But who knows? After all, (supposedly), when the critical moment came, alleged hijacker HuDah F*ck whipped a 270 degree turn that the best pilots say they couldn't have done. . .

R.C.

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