David Rigert Says Goodbye To Olympic Weightlifting

History in Color:
December 20, 1981, Donetsk, Ukraine – Legendary Soviet weightlifter David Rigert competes in the 100kg class at the 1981 USSR Cup in Donetsk, Ukraine.

David Rigert was 34 at the time. He bombed out at 190kg in snatch and 240kg in clean-and jerk. The 1981 USSR Cup in Donetsk happened to be his last elite tournament in his career.

A year after the 1980 Summer Olympics, one of Olympic weightlifting greats of all time, David Rigert retired from competing as an athlete.

“I did not feel any drive or fire inside anymore when I was on the competition platform”  – remembers David Rigert looking back. “I felt as strong as a super heavyweight, but there was no point in it. No explosion, no speed. There was no more spark plug inside me. And if so, then there was nothing to do for me in competing. And I decided it was my time to leave.”

The 100kg class was won by 18-year old Yury Zakharevich, the new rising star of the Soviet weightlifting.