Arrikhon, also called Arrakhon of Figalia, was a pankratiast (an athlete who practiced pankration, an ancient form of martial arts) and lived in the 6th century BC. BC, he won the Olympic Games in 572 and 568 BC. e.
In 564, Arrikhon reached the final for the third time, but at the end of the competition, the opponent grabbed him so that he could no longer make a single movement. According to the legends, his coach then shouted: "What a wonderful funeral if you have not conquered Olympia." Arrikhon used the prospect of an honorable death wisely: he took advantage of the opponent's temporary weakness and dislocated his leg with a blow with his right leg, and to make this maneuver more effective, he threw the opponent's body to the left. Because of the unbearable pain, the opponent made a sign to the judge that he was giving up.
However, all this time the enemy did not let go of Arrikhon's neck, and due to a sudden movement it broke. Death was instantaneous, and occurred due to a broken neck, and not from suffocation, as Pausanias says, because before dying from suffocation, a person loses consciousness for a while.
Despite his death, it was Arrikhon, and not his opponent, who was proclaimed the victor. Thus, Arrikhon personifies the famous sports motto - "victory or death".