George de Relwyskow

George Frederick William de Relwyskow (18 June 1887 – 9 November 1942) was an English sport wrestler who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics for Great Britain.

[1] Born in Kensington in 1887, the son of immigrants from the Russian Empire, de Relwyskow took up wrestling as a means of keeping fit while a student in London training as an artist and designer.

[2] George de Relwyskow was the youngest winner of an Olympic gold medal for wrestling, a record that was to stand for almost seventy years until the 20-year-old Soviet Suren Nalbandyan won the Greco-Roman lightweight title in 1976.

[2] He enlisted again at the start of World War II and served as an instructor in Unarmed Combat and Silent Killing with the Special Operations Executive (SOE).

The younger George de Relwyskow pursued a career in professional wrestling cut short by an injury in World War II.