Boris Shakhlin

Boris Anfiyanovich Shakhlin (Борис Анфиянович Шахлин; 27 January 1932 – 30 May 2008) was a Soviet gymnast who was the 1960 Olympic all-around champion and the 1958 all-around World Champion. He won a total of 13 medals including seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics, and was the most successful athlete at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He held the record for most Olympic medals by a male athlete record until gymnast Nikolai Andrianov won his 14th and 15th medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. He also won 14 medals at the World Championships.

Career
Shakhlin was born in Ishim, Russian SFSR. He began gymnastics at the age of 12. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, he "set a career record of 10 individual titles in the world championships and also won gold medals at three successive Olympic Games. His tally of seven gold, four silver, and two bronze Olympic medals placed him among the most-decorated at the Games".

Shakhlin retired from competition at the age of 35 after suffering a heart attack. He joined the FIG Men's Technical Committee in 1968 and continued to work on the Committee until 1992. In the 1990s and 2000s (decade), he worked as a lecturer at the University of Kyiv.

He was awarded the Red Banner of Labor in 1956 and the Order of Lenin in 1960. He was named an honorary citizen both in his birth town Ishim and in Kyiv where lived for many years. In 2002, he was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

He died on 30 May 2008.

Philatelia
The Mongol Post issued a postage stamp - Boris Shakhlin (No.525, 1969).