Rafael Chimishkyan

Rafael Chimishkyan
Medal record
Competitor for  Soviet Union
Men's Weightlifting
Olympic Games
Gold 1952 Helsinki -60 kg
World Championships
Silver 1950 Paris -56 kg
Silver 1953 Stockholm -60 kg
Gold 1954 Vienna -60 kg
Gold 1955 Munich -60 kg
European Championships
Gold 1950 Paris -56 kg
Gold 1952 Helsinki -60 kg
Silver 1953 Stockholm -60 kg
Gold 1954 Vienna -60 kg
Gold 1955 Munich -60 kg
Gold 1956 Helsinki -60 kg
Gold 1957 Katowice -60 kg
USSR Weightlifting Championships
Gold 1949 Voronezh -56 kg
Silver 1950 Kharkiv -60 kg
Gold 1951 Kaunas -60 kg
Silver 1952 Ivanovo -60 kg
Silver 1953 Tallinn -60 kg
Gold 1954 Petrozavodsk -60 kg
Gold 1955 Minsk -60 kg
Bronze 1956 Moscow -60 kg
Silver 1957 Lviv -60 kg
Silver 1958 Stalino -60 kg
Gold 1960 Leningrad -60 kg
Bronze 1962 Tbilisi -60 kg

Rafael Arkadyevich Chimishkyan (Georgian: რაფაელ ჩიმიშკიანი, Russian: Рафаэль Аркадьевич Чимишкян), born March 23, 1929 in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, USSR) is a former weightlifter who competed for the Soviet Union and Olympic, World, European and Soviet Champion. Chimishkyan was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1952. He is an honorary citizen of Tbilisi.

Biography

Rafael was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR

He started weightlifting in 1946. In his first Soviet Championship in 1949, he won a gold medal at bantamweight (56 kg). In 1950, Chimishkyan won silver at the World Weightlifting Championships and gold at the European Weightlifting Championships and then switched to featherweight (60 kg). He first won a silver at the Soviet Championships that year in this new category. Chimishkyan became a two-time World Champion (1954 and 1955), six-time European Champion (1950, 1952, 1954-57) and five-time USSR Champion (1949, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1960).

Chimishkyan won an Olympic gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He is the second Soviet weightlifter to become an Olympic Champion.[1] Chimishkyan set 10 world records during his career: three in the snatch, two in the clean and jerk and five in the total.

After finishing his sporting career, Chimishkyan was a Category One international weightlifting referee and was active in the Georgian Weightlifting Federation. He later became the Honorary Vice-President of the Georgian Weightlifting Federation. Chimishkyan was named the Best Weightlifter of Georgia of the Twenty-First Century.

References

  1. "1952 Summer Olympics - Helsinki, Finland - Weightlifting" - databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on February 23, 2008)

External links