13 Facts About Vasily Alekseyev

Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev was a Soviet weightlifter.

Vasily Alekseyev set 80 world-records and 81 Soviet records in weightlifting and won Olympic gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 games.

At the age of 18, Alekseyev began practicing weightlifting at Trud VSS, trained by his coach Rudolf Plyukfelder until 1968, when he began to train solo.

Vasily Alekseyev was not a naturally large man like other super heavyweights but was encouraged to gain strength by adding weight.

In January 1970, Vasily Alekseyev set his first world record, and during the 1970 World Weightlifting Championship in Columbus, he was the first man to clean and jerk 500 pounds in competition.

Vasily Alekseyev was unbeaten and held the World Championship and European Championship titles for those eight years.

Vasily Alekseyev's performance in the Moscow Olympics of 1980 was a disappointment.

Vasily Alekseyev had by then become more of a recluse, training by himself without a coach.

In 1987, Vasily Alekseyev was elected to represent the Ryazan District for the Soviet Union's Congress of People's Deputies.

From 1966 Vasily Alekseyev lived in Shakhty, where in 1971 he graduated from the branch of the Novocherkassk Polytechnical Institute.

Vasily Alekseyev died on 25 November 2011 in Germany in a clinic where he had been sent for serious heart problems.

Vasily Alekseyev was survived by wife Olimpiada and sons Sergey and Dmitry.

Vasily Alekseyev was awarded: Order of Lenin, Order of Friendship of Peoples, Order of the Badge of Honour, and Order of the Red Banner of Labour.