Zhabotinsky and Galkin in Tbilisi (1974)
History in Color:
April 26, 1974, Tbilisi, Georgia –Legendary super heavyweight, 2x Olympic champion Leonid Zhabotinsky congratulates 22-year old middleweight Alexander Galkin with a silver medal in the 75kg weight class at the 1974 USSR Championships that was held in the State Circus Arena in Tbilisi.
Alexander Galkin was considered a rising star in the middleweight class at the time.
Graduate of the Spartak weightlifting club in Donetsk, at 19, Galkin ended up with a solid 455kg total (150+130+175) and a bronze medal at the 1971 USSR Spartakiade and USSR Championshipa in Moscow. Later in the year, he won the 1971 USSR Cup and became a national champion in the snatch and clean-and-jerk lifts.
In 1974, Galkin competed for the Army Club of Kiev, Ukraine and became a USSR vice champion with legendary Viktor Kurentsov winning the gold.
A year later, Galkin won the 1975 Ukraine Championship in Voroshilovgrad. He reached his best total 320kg (137.5 + 182.5) at the 1975 USSR Championship (6th place).