Valery Yakubovsky: 1971 USSR Spartakiade
July 23, 1971, Moscow, Russia – Heavyweight Valery Yakubovsky of the Dynamo Moscow team competes in the 110kg competitions at the 1971 USSR Championships and Spartakiade at the CSKA Weightlifting Arena in Moscow.
In the 1970s, Valery Yakubovsky (1947-2001) was a world class athlete in the 110kg weight class. In the press era of Olympic weightlifting, Valery was listed in the all-time Top 15 athletes on the Club 500 with a total of 590kg (210+170+210) that he reached in May 1972 while competing in a heavyweight class.
The competition for the place in the national team in his weight class was tough. The list of the usual suspects was impressive and included Vladimir Golovanov, Jaan Talts, Yury Kozin, Karl Utsar, Pavel Pervushin, Yury Yablonovsky – to name just a few.
As a result, Yakubovsky had rather a very limited exposure to the top international tournaments. He won the 1971 European Championships in Sofia and set 8 world records in his career (4 in the press lift, 1 in the snatch, 1 in the cj and 2 in the total of three lifts).
Valery Yakubovsky competed for the Dynamo Moscow club and won the 1973 USSR Cup, gold medal in the snatch lift (1973), silver (1970) and bronze (1973) medals in total at the USSR national championships.
At the 1971 USSR Spartakiade (on the cover photo), Yakubovsky won the 4th place with 550kg (190+155+205) in total.
His remarkable appearance and physique was definitely noticeable. It certainly remains in the historic memory of the followers of the Iron Game.