Nicu Vlad (Romania)
History in Color:
March 9, 1985, Yerevan, Armenia – 22-year Olympic champion Nicu Vlad of Team Romania competes at the 1985 Friendship Cup in Yerevan.
Nicu Vlad (b.1963) is one of the all-time weightlifting legends with a memorable appearance and impressive competition results. Vlad competed for two countries in his career – for his native Romania (most of his career) and for Australia (later in his career, from 1991 t0 1996).
Nicu Vlad is a 4x Olympian. He competed at the Summer Olympics in 1984 (90kg, gold), 1988 (100kg, silver), 1992 (110kg, 4th) and 1996 (108kg, bronze).
At the World Championships, Nicu Vlad won 3 golds (1984, 1986, 1990), 3 silvers (1987, 1989, 1994) and 1 broze medal (1985). At the European Championships, he had 2 golds (1985, 1986) and 4 silvers (1987, 1989, 1990, 1996). In 1996. Vlad won the Commonwealth Games for Australia in the heavyweight class.
The snatch lift was historically the strongest for Nicu. He set 2 world records in his career and both were in the snatch lift.