| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Vardanian (center) at the Moscow Olympics, 1980 |
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| Competitor for Soviet Union | ||
| Men's Weightlifting | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 1980 Moscow | -82.5 kg |
Yurik Vardanian (Armenian: Յուրիկ Վարդանյան, Russian: Юрик Норайрович Варданян, born June 13, 1956 in Leninakan, Armenian SSR)[1][2] is a former Olympic weightlifter for the USSR. He trained at Lokomotiv in Leninakan, Armenia.
Vardanian won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve a 400 kilogram total in the 82.5 kg weight category. During his career he set several world records.
He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.[3] Since 1991 Vardanian lives in the United States.[1]
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Vardanian was the first light-heavyweight athlete to lift a total of 400 kg total in an official competition. This record is no longer recognised because of a restructuring of the weight classes in 1993 and then again in 1998. However, no athlete has lifted 400 kg thus far in the closest (heavier) weight division of 85 kg.
The 400 kg total lifted by Vardanian in the 1980 Moscow Olympics was worthy a gold medal not only in his, but also in two heavier weight classes: Baczako Peter (90 kg) won gold with a total of 377.5 kg and Zaremba Ota (100 kg) totaled 395 kg. Even in the 110 kg class Vardanian would have a won a bronze, beating Syzali Gygorgy (390 kg). At the 1984 Friendship Cup in Varna, Vardanyan set his last world records, 182.5 kg in the snatch, 224.0 kg in the clean & jerk and 405 kg in the total.
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