Back in the USSR: Top Athletes Before the 1980 Olympics
History in Color:
An interesting group photo of the top Soviet Olympic weightlifters and coaches from the family archives of Vasily Denisov, one of the Team USSR top candidates in the 75kg weight class to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Based on the group discussion, the black-and-white original was taken in the back of the Institute of Physical Culture in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine during the training camp of Team USSR Weightlifting in the spring of 1979.
Left to right, front to back:
1st (front) row:
Alexander Logutov (75kg, Novokuybyshevsk, Russia), Semyon Itkin (personal coach of K. Osmonaliev) , Vladimir Kaplunov (Army, head coach), x, Alexander Voronin (52kg, Kemerovo, Russia), Lobodaev (Team USSR, doctor).
2nd row:
Yevgeny Rysin (Team Unions, head coach), Valery Shary (90kg, Minsk, Belarus), Vadim Avzhyan (82.5kg, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine), Zinovy Arkhangorodsky (Manager/administrator, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine).
3rd row:
Alexey Ivanov (Russian Federation, head coach), x, Nikolay Kolesnikov (60kg, Shakhty, Russia), Alexander Pervy (75kg, Donetsk, Uktaine), Valery Kravchuk (110kg, Krivoy Rog, Ukraine), Kanybek Osmonaliev (52kg, Frunze, Kirgizia), David Rigert (100kg, Shakhty, Russia)
4th row:
Sergey Arakelov (100kg, Krasnodar, Russia), Vasily Denisov (75kg, Perm, Russia), Gennady Bessonov (90kg, Shakhty, Russia), Viktor Okorokov (110+kg, Smolensk, Russia), Victor Mazin (60kg, Shakhtinsk, Kazakhstan), Yury Zaytsev (110kg, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine)
5th row:
Dmitry Pospelov (56kg, Gorky, Russia), Igor Kudyukov (Team USSR, head coach), Gagik Arutyunyan (110kg, Yerevan, Armenia), Vartan Militosyan (75kg, Leninakan, Armenia), Robert Oganesyan (110kg, Yerevan, Armenia), N. Starikov (Team Dynamo, head coach).
6th (back) row:
Gennady Baldin (Team USSR, massage therapist), x, x, Viktor Shuba (67.5kg, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine), Samvel Muradyan (56kg, Yerevan, Armenia), Yurik Vardanyan (82.5kg, Leninakan, Armenia), S. Lelikov (USSR Sports Research Group).
