Leonid Taranenko
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| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Weightlifting | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1980 Moscow | Heavyweight | |
| Silver | 1992 Barcelona | Super Heavyweight | |
Leonid Arkad'evich Taranenko (Russian: Леонид Аркадьевич Тараненко) (born June 13, 1956 in Malaryta, Byelorussian SSR) is a former Soviet weightlifter.
Taranenko trained at VSS Uradzhai in Minsk. His first major success took place at the 1980 Olympics, when, competing for the USSR, he won the gold medal in the 110 kilogram class with a 422.5 kg total. He was unable to compete in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles due to the Soviet boycott. However, competing in the 1984 Friendship Games, Taranenko won the 110 kg class with a world record total of 442.5 kg, exceeding the winning total in Los Angeles (by Norberto Oberburger) by 52.5 kg.
After this, Taranenko moved up to the super-heavyweight class. Lifting in Canberra, Australia on November 26, 1988, he set a world record of 266 kg in the clean and jerk, and 476 kg in the total. Due to the restructuring of the competitive weight classes that took place in 1993 and 1998, these lifts are no longer recognized as the official world records. However, these remain the highest figures ever posted in competition.
In 1992, Taranenko represented Belarus at the Olympics in Barcelona. He took the silver medal in the super-heavyweight class with a total of 425 kg.
Taranenko's other victories include the 110 kg class titles at the 1980 World and European championships, and super-heavyweight titles at the 1990 World championship and 1988, 1991, and 1996 European championships.
