Russian Personalities

People well-known in art, sport, film, fashion

Russians in Guinness Book of World Records

Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records


The first edition of the Guinness Book of World Records was published on August 27, 1955. It contains a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. It is the best-selling book of all time and one of the most frequently stolen books from public libraries in the US.
There are also Russian people in the Book. Let’s have a look at them and their achievements.

The most favorite Russian TV program
Valdis Pelsh, Russian TV presenter, got into the Guinness Book of Records twice. In the late 90s, his program Guess The Tune was at the peak of popularity, it was watched by 56% of viewers. It was then when 143 programs were released for 40 days. The second record was achieved in 1995, when Guess The Tune was being watched by 132 million people at the same time.
Russians in Guinness Book of World Records. Valdis Pelsh

Valdis Pelsh

The youngest diver
Eyzhena, the eldest daughter of Valdis Pelsh, also got into the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest diver. 14-year-old girl made a dive in Antarctica. Famous father was not worried about his daughter because she was diving with her mother, and according to Valdis, he did not doubt his daughter’s abilities. Prior to this record the youngest diver was 20 years old.

Five performances within 8 hours
Eugene Grishkovets, actor and author of his famous and original productions, also mentioned in the Guinness Book. Once at the Golden Mask Festival in 2004 Grishkovets presented five his solo performances (one-man show). He spent 8.5 hours on the stage during one day. The most persistent fans received prizes.

Eugene Grishkovets

Eugene Grishkovets

Round the world flight within 71 hours
Pilot Leo Kozlov is a two-time world record holder. He made a round the world flight on an airplane An-124 Ruslan. In 72 hours 16 minutes pilots covered 50,005 kilometers, 93% of which they were flying over the waters of all the oceans of the globe. It happened in 1990. The flight had set 7 World and 10 Soviet records.

Leo Kozlov

Leo Kozlov

Russians in Guinness Book of World Records

11,000,000 parachute jumps
Valentina Zakoretskaya was engaged in parachuting at the age of 16. In 1976, 1987 and 1998 she got into the Guinness Book of Records as a female parachutist with the highest number of jumps in the world. She has made more than 11,500,000 jumps! Valentina is a 50-time World record holder and a two-time absolute world champion.

Valentina Zakoretskaya

Valentina Zakoretskaya

Most skillful musician
Rock musician Viktor Zinchuk is an outstanding Russian guitar virtuoso. In 2001, he performed a variation on Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at 270 beats per minute; it took him only 24 seconds. But in 2008, Tiago Della Vega performed Flight of the Bumblebee at 320 beats per second.

Russians in Guinness Book of World Records. Viktor Zinchuk

Viktor Zinchuk

Strongman record holder
Vladimir Turchinsky, nicknamed Dynamite, was the champion in the power sports. His achievements were quite spectacular: Turchinsky budged 260-ton plane Ruslan, lifted an elephant weighing 3.5 tons, lifted Lada VAZ-2109 with 12 passengers, with his left hand he pulled the double-decker bus weighing 20 tons.

Vladimir Turchinsky

Vladimir Turchinsky

Russians in Guinness Book of World Records

The strongest boy in the world
In August 2001, Bruce Khlebnikov was recognized as the strongest boy in the world. Fragile child was able to move four-ton fighter attached to his hair. By the way, his hair is also in the Guinness Book – 1 meter 10 centimeters, the longest male hair in the world. To tell the truth, Bruce has set a lot of world records. At the age of five little Bruce surprised Van Damme with his stretch. As a child he walked on nails and broken glass.

Russians in Guinness Book of World Records. Bruce Khlebnikov

Bruce Khlebnikov

Some more records:
– In 1989, 4,726,112 people voted for Boris Yeltsin, more than for his opponent, who received less than 400 votes.
– For outstanding achievements in world sport Russian athlete Alexei Nemov was listed in the Guinness Book. He is a 4-time Olympic champion and has won 12 medals in gymnastics.
– Nikolai Andrianov, Russian gymnast, also got into Book of Records. He was a seven-time Olympic champion, won 7 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals.
– Russian woman Zlata Moravkova (Julia Gyuntel) was recognized as the most flexible woman in the world.

Zlata - most flexible woman

Zlata – most flexible woman

Russians in Guinness Book of World Records