20-year Old Yurik Vardanyan Wins His 1st National Title
May 7, 1977, Roston-na-Donu, Russia, USSR – 20-year old middleweight Yurik Vardanyan of Leninakan (Gyumri), Armenia performs a clean-and-jerk lift in the 75kg class at the 1977 USSR Championships in Roston-na-Donu.
In Rostov, still a junior weightlifter at the time, Yurik Vardanyan won his first gold medal at the USSR Championships. His total was 347.5kg (157.5+190) in the 75kg weight class and he set 2 world records that night – 157.5kg in snatch and 347.5kg in total.
Future Olympic champion, 7x World champion and author of 41 World records, Yurik Vardanyan (1956-2018) was 20 and he was on his way to his all-time and all-nations Legend status in Olympic weightlifting.