Alexander Vladimirovich Znamensky (also known as Williams Moor-Znamensky; 1877, Moscow, Russian Empire – 1928, St. Petersburg, Russia) was a professional circus athlete,[1] weight lifter, belt wrestler.

Then in the Ciniselli Circus there were strongmen: the Estonian Besberg, the Warsaw Vasilevsky, the Austrian Paller, Robyn, Pytlyasinsky, Emil Foss (Stetten, Germany), the Bulgarian Nikola Petrov and Williams Moor-Znamensky.

In 1896, in St. Petersburg, a strongman, a wrestler and a major horse breeder, Count G. I. Ribopier, headed the voluntary athletic society, bringing together many like-minded people in one place.

There were only a few people in Russia and everyone was looked upon as a “miracle”, mostly “overseas”, therefore the first athlete in Voronezh, Alexander, speaking under the pseudonym Williams Moor-Znamensky, was considered a “Greek demigod descended from Olympus”.

After waiting a moment, Pronya grabbed his rival with a belt and threw it onto the shoulder blades, scoring a technical victory, which was discussed in the newspapers for a long time.

Moore-Znamensky in a rage for this “victory” hit Pronius, the police soon intervened; the same night, Moor-Znamensky left the city of Kozlov (now Michurinsk, Tambov Oblast) and the scandal soon subsided.

In 1899, the censorship committee approved for publication the manuscript of the fundamental work “Catechism of Health” of Krajewski, written on the basis of the experience of the successful athletes of Pavel Stupin, Peter Krylov and Moor-Znamensky.

In the same year, on August 11, international wrestling competitions were held in Riga, by Augustus Neyland, director of the variety theater “Olympia” with the restaurant Schnelles Variete, in which Znamensky was awarded the title of champion of the Baltic provinces.

Later, on October 25, wrestling competitions were held in the circus of G. Schwanguradze in the town of Libave (now Liepaja), in which professionals and amateurs took part, where everyone could test their strength in the arena; then the term "semi-professional" appeared.

A. Sukhanov wrote about the Moor-Znamensky, as well as S. Eliseev, in a 1987 edition of the illustrated weekly magazine Cyclist, published in Moscow since 1895: “One of the strongest professionals in the world, Russian Strongman Moore (Znamensky) has 406 pounds (166.26 kg) in the push with both hands... ”.