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Olev Annus, an Estonian-Finnish bodybuilder from the 80s: trained by the Spetsnaz.
Annus sent a formal letter to the general secretary of the Soviet Union, Leonid Breznev, to apply for a permission to compete abroad. The answer didn't come back from Breznev, but rather from the committee of sports, and it was an extreme no (the Soviets didn't recognize bodybuilding as a sport).
However, the Finnish bodybuilding scene wanted to get him out there, so they arranged a marriage to a Finnish woman and it became official in 1984 - Annus gained the Finnish citizenship in 1989 and lives there to this day.
However, passing the Iron Curtain was not exactly easy: before moving to Finland, Annus received a warning from the KGB - on his way home from the gym in a "marsruuttakso" (a taxi driving a certain route and passing by stops) two "big and criminally looking" men attacked him: Annus knocked them out on the street.
However, the Finnish bodybuilding scene wanted to get him out there, so they arranged a marriage to a Finnish woman and it became official in 1984 - Annus gained the Finnish citizenship in 1989 and lives there to this day.
However, passing the Iron Curtain was not exactly easy: before moving to Finland, Annus received a warning from the KGB - on his way home from the gym in a "marsruuttakso" (a taxi driving a certain route and passing by stops) two "big and criminally looking" men attacked him: Annus knocked them out on the street.