Vasiliy Alekseyev

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Super-heavyweight medalists of the Montreal Olympics (1976). Vasily Alekseyev (gold, right) and Gerd Bonk of East Germany (silver, left) - the difference between their results was 35 kg

Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev (Russian:Василий Иванович Алексеев; born January 7, 1942 in village Pokrovo-Shishkino, Ryazan Oblast) is a former competitor from the Soviet Union, who may be considered the greatest super-heavyweight weightlifter of all time. He set 80 world records and 81 Soviet records in weightlifting.

He began practicing weightlifting at age 18. Alekseyev was trained at Trud Voluntary Sports Society by his coach Rudolf Plyukfelder until 1968, when he began to train alone there. For this purpose he invented a special, very hard training system, which was much different from the methods commonly used at that time. One of his unique training methods was diving into a river, a lake or a pool with the barbell, and pressing it out of the water. In 1970 Alekseyev set his first world record, beginning a series of 80 world records set between 1970 and 1977. He was unbeaten and held the World Championship and European Championship titles for those eight years. He was the first man to total over 600kg in the triple event. However his performance in the Moscow Olympics of 1980 was a disappointment. In both events he set his opening weight too high and was unable to lift it, scoring zero kilograms as the result. He retired from weightlifting after the Moscow Olympics.

Alekseyev worked as a coach between 1990 and 1992. Under his leadership the Unified Team earned ten medals in weightlifting at the 1992 Summer Olympics, including five golds

During his peak weight-lifting years, he used to eat a 36-egg omelette for breakfast every day^{[citation needed]}.

In 1999, in Greece, Alekseyev was acknowledged as the best sportsman of the 20th century. He was also awarded Order of Lenin (1972), Order of Friendship of Peoples, Order of the Badge of Honor (1970), Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1972).

Since 1966 he has lived in Shakhty. In 1971 Alekseyev graduated from the branch of the Novocherkassk Polytechnical Institute in Shakhty.

[edit] Bibliography

D. I. Ivanov (1977). Vasily Alekseyev, Heroes of the Olympic Games (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 

[edit] External links

• World Records and titles of Vasily Alekseyev
• The Best At Everything, by William O. Johnson
• Biography (in Russian) with many photos
• Vasily Alekseyev - Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange
• Britannica entry on Alekseyev