Klitschko was born in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, when it was part of the former Soviet Union. The family settled in Ukraine in 1985. His father, Wladimir Rodionovich, was an Air Force colonel and his mother, Nadezhda Ulyanovna, was a flight attendant. Klitschko and his brother, Vitali, played soccer and playfully fought and wrestled as youths. Vitali, nearly five years older, won six world kickboxing championships before embarking on a successful boxing career and running for mayor of Kiev, Ukraine.
Wladimir Klitschko, who has a doctorate in sports science from the University of Kiev, was a European junior boxing champion at age 17 and became a five-time Ukranian boxing champion and the 91-kilogram (200-pound) titlist in the inaugural World Military Games. After winning a silver medal in the European championship, Klitschko captured gold in the super heavyweight division at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, defeating Paea Wolfgramm of Tonga in the final. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma awarded him a medal for courage.
Klitschko, also nicknamed "Dr. Steelhammer," stands an imposing six-foot, six-and-a-half inches tall. He knocked out Fabian Meza in the opening round of his first professional fight, on November 16, 1996, and by early 2008 he had won 50 of his 53 career fights; 44 of his wins were by knockout.
