Vasily Alekseyev

Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev (Russian Василий Иванович Алексеев; born January 7, 1942 in Pokrowo - Schischkino, Ryazan Oblast, † November 25, 2011 in Munich) was a Soviet weightlifter.

He won the 1972 and 1976 Olympic gold medal in the super heavyweight and won numerous titles at the World and European Championships. During this time, Alexeyev set to 80 world records, which is unmatched to the present time. Alexeyev was one of the few weightlifters who have obtained through their sport a worldwide reputation.

Life

Vasily Alexeyev was the fourth child of a factory worker in Pokrowo - Schischkino in central Russia; when he was eleven years old, his family moved to Rotschegda in the Arkhangelsk Oblast, where he regularly helped in the summer when working with wood. In Arkhangelsk, he completed after high school to study at the technical wooden Institute. Since 1955 he regularly attended county and Oblastmeisterschaften in weightlifting and continued to train during his studies. In the 1960s he worked as a shift manager at a paper and pulp mill.

Despite its regional successes Alexeyev was in the IV Völkerspartakiade the USSR in 1967 largely unknown when he defeated the former champion Leonid Schabotinski surprising. When V. Völkerspartakiade 1970 he was already the "star" and put on an evening seven world records.

After his success at the Olympic Games in 1972 and 1976 Alexeyev became known internationally. At the Olympic Games in 1980, however, he was able to overcome the initial weight not: his winning streak came to an end. Since 1980 he has worked as a trainer in the city Schachty in the Rostov Oblast. From 1990 to 1992 he was national coach of the USSR. Under his leadership, the team of the USSR in Barcelona in 1992 she won ten medals, including five gold medals.

Last Alekseyev lived as a pensioner in Schachty whose honorary citizen he was in 1996 and named the school after him. On November 25, 2011 Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev died in a Munich hospital, where he had gone for treatment of heart disease.

Awards

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European, S = Super Heavyweight, at that time more than 110 kg to 1972 all competitions in the Olympic triathlon, consisting of press, snatch and jerk, from 1973 duel, consisting of tearing and piercing )

USSR Championships

( until 1972 all competitions in the Olympic triathlon, consisting of press, snatch and jerk, from 1973 duel, consisting of tearing and piercing )