14 Facts About David Rigert

David Adamovich Rigert is a retired Soviet weightlifter and weightlifting coach of Austrian ancestry.

David Rigert initially trained as a boxer, but then, motivated by the Yury Vlasov's victory at the 1960 Olympics, changed to weightlifting.

David Rigert began practicing weightlifting on his own in 1966, using the training methods of former Soviet weightlifting champion Arkady Vorobyov.

Two years later, while serving in the Soviet Army, David Rigert earned the title Master of Sports of the USSR.

In 1969 he met the famous Soviet coach Rudolf Plyukfelder, who invited him to Shakhty, where David Rigert began training at Trud Voluntary Sports Society under Plyukfelder.

Just 11 months later, in 1970, David Rigert was included into the Soviet national team and debuted internationally, earning a bronze medal at the world championships.

In November 1970 at the RSFSR Championships in Volgograd, David Rigert set his first world record thus began an extraordinary series of 65 weightlifting world records by 1981.

David Rigert won all world and European championships between 1973 and 1976, and earned a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

David Rigert coached, studied at The Moscow Institute of Physical Culture, manufactured weights for weightlifting competitions and built some 100 sport facilities in Taganrog.

David Rigert created a weightlifting center in Taganrog and prepared the Russian National Team for the 2004 Olympics.

In 2004 David Rigert was elected deputy of the Taganrog City Council, and in March 2009 he was reelected as deputy of the Taganrog Duma, representing the United Russia political party.

David Rigert is a honorary citizen of Taganrog, Grozny and Chornomorsk.

David Rigert was awarded Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1976.

David Rigert is married to Nadezhda, a former competitive javelin thrower.