Always Ready For the Challenge
This digitally enhanced historical photo of the Team CCCP Weightlifting features the athletes selected to represent the country at the 1979World Championship in Saloniki, Greece.
Top row (L-R): Igor Kudyukov (Head Coach), n/a, Kanybek Osmanaliev (52kg, Frunze), Gennady Bessonov (90kg, Shakhty), Nikolay Kolesnikov (60kg, Bugulma), Yury Nozdrin (team doctor), Gennady Baldin (massage therapist), Viktor Veretennikov (56kg, Volgograd)
Front row (L-R): Valery Kravchuk (100kg, Zheleznye Vody), Pavel Syrchin (100kg, Krasnokamsk), Yurik Vardanyan (82.5kg, Leninakan), Sergey Arakelov (110kg, Krasnodar), Sultan Rakhmanov (110+kg, Dnepropetrovsk), Alexander Voronin (52kg, Kemerovo)
Leonid Taranenko also went to compete to Saloniki but wasn’t present in the photo session.
Team CCCP took the first place in the tournament.
Osmanaliev, Vardanyan, Bessonov, Syrchin, Arakelov and Rakhmanov won the World titles in their weight classes. Veretennikov won silver medal. Voronin and Taranenko won bronze medal.
Nevertheless, it was the last big tournament for Igor Kudykov. He was replaced by Alexander Prilepin as the Heas Coach CCCP in 1980.
World Championships from 1891 to Today
Weight | Class | Name | Total (kg) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
52 | Flyweight | Kanybek OSMONALIEV, Soviet Union | 105+137.5 = 242.5 | |
56 | Bantamweight | Anton KODZHABASHEV, Bulgaria | 117.5+150 = 267.5 | |
60 | Featherweight | Marek SEWERYN, Poland | 127.5+155 = 282.5 | |
67.5 | Lightweight | Yanko RUSEV, Bulgaria | 145+187.5 = 332.5 | |
75 | Middleweight | Roberto URRUTIA, Cuba | 155+190 = 345 | |
82.5 | Light Heavyweight | Yurik VARDANYAN, Soviet Union | 170+200 = 370 | |
90 | Middle Heavyweight | Gennady BESSONOV, Soviet Union | 170+210 = 380 | |
100 | Sub Heavyweight | Pavel SYRCHIN, Soviet Union | 167.5+217.5 = 385 | |
110 | Heavyweight | Sergey ARAKELOV, Soviet Union | 185+225 = 410 | |
110+ | Super Heavyweight | Sultan RAKHMANOV, Soviet Union | 192.5+237.5 = 430 |
Note: To view a complete list of the winners in the weight classes above,
please follow the link associated with the weight class.