Alexander Varbanov: World Record and Gold Medal in Sofia

History in Color:
November 11, 1986, Sofia, Bulgaria – Bulgarian middleweight Alexander Varbanov sets a new world record (215kg in clean-and-jerk) and wins the world title in the 75kg class at the 1986 World Championships in Sofia.

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 achieved 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).