Alexander Varbanov: World Record in Moscow, 1983
History in Color:
August 26, 1983, Moscow – 19-year old Bulgarian middleweight Alexander Varbanov sets a new world record (210kg in clean-and-jerk) and wins his first world title in the 75kg class at the 1983 World Championships in Moscow.
Alexander Varbanov (born in 1964) was one of the strongest middleweights in the history of Olympic weightlifting. In fact, his last official World record of 215.5kg in clean-and-jerk was set on December 5, 1987 in Seoul and still remains the highest weight ever lifted by middleweights.
Overall, Varbanov set 10 world records in his career – 7 in clean-and-jerk and 3 in total. His all-time personal best was the total of 382.5kg (167.5+215, bodyweight 74.6kg) that he avhieved on February 29, 1988 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Alexander Varbanov won a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was a 3x World Champion (1983, 1985, 1986), 4x European Champion (1983, 1985, 1986, 1987), 4x Bulgarian champion (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985).