Vasiliy Alekseyev

Vasiliy Alekseyev, a Russian born Василий Иванович Алексеев in 1942 is renowned as one of the greatest weightlifters the world has ever produced.

Vasiliy Alekseyev competed in weightlifting for the Soviet Union throughout the 1970's and during his reign as the best weightlifter in the world he set eighty world records for weightlifting.

Alekseyev started weightlifting at the age of 18 at the Trud Voluntary Sports Society, it was during these early years that he soon found that he was physically perfect for the sport.

Competing in the 110+ category of weightlifting during a time where some lifts were still being carried out that are not part of the weightlifting circuit today, Vasiliy Alekseyev was well known for being able to produce awe inspiring feats of strength through the power of his lifts.

Vasiliy was the European Champion every year from 1970 all the way through to (and including) 1978, he was also the World Champion every year from 1970 all the way through to (and including) 1977.

Personal statistics:

Height - 1.86 metres (6 feet 1 inch)
Weight - 161.75 kg (355.85 lbs)

Below are some of Alekseyevs great records:

• Snatch: 190.0 kg in 1977-09-01 on Podolsk;
• Clean and press: 236.5 kg, official world record until 1972;
• Clean and jerk: 256.0 kg in 1977-11-01 on Moscow;
• Total: 645.0 kg (clean and press + snatch + clean and jerk), in 1972-04-15, on Tallinn, official world record until 1972;[6]
• Total: 445.0 kg (snatch + clean and jerk) on Podolsk