Vasily Alekseyev

Vasily Alekseyev was a Soviet superheavyweight weightlifter who won Olympic gold medals in 1972 and 1976 and set numerous world records.

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1972 Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympic Games held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972. Alekseyev won his first Olympic gold in the superheavyweight class at Munich.
Weightlifting: A strength sport in which competitors lift barbells in prescribed movements. Alekseyev's career centered on competitive Olympic weightlifting.
Leonid Zhabotinsky: A Ukrainian Soviet superheavyweight weightlifter who won Olympic gold in 1964 and 1968. Zhabotinsky dominated the class before Alekseyev became its leading champion.
Weightlifting at the 1980 Summer Olympics: The weightlifting competition held at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Alekseyev competed at his third Olympics but did not complete a successful lift.
1976 Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada, from July 17 to August 1, 1976. He defended his superheavyweight Olympic title in Montreal.
Clean and jerk: A barbell lift in which the athlete raises the weight to the shoulders, then overhead. It was one of the two lifts used to score Olympic weightlifting totals during his career.
Yury Vlasov: A Soviet superheavyweight weightlifter who won Olympic gold in 1960 and 1964. Vlasov's records and titles established a benchmark for Soviet superheavyweight lifters.
Olympic weightlifting: The form of competitive weightlifting contested at the Olympic Games. His two titles made him a defining figure in the sport's Olympic history.
Weightlifting at the 1972 Summer Olympics: The weightlifting competition held at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. This competition included Alekseyev's first Olympic appearance and gold-medal performance.
Snatch: A barbell lift in which the athlete raises the weight from the floor to overhead in one continuous motion. It was the other lift contributing to Alekseyev's Olympic total.