Farewell to Olympic Press: Last USSR Heavyweight Champions (1972)

April 14, 1972, Tallinn, Estonia – National medal winners in the 110kg weightclass at the 1972 USSR Championships in Tallinn(left to right):

Jaan Talts (Estonia, silver medal), Yury Kozin (Moscow, gold medal), Karl Pumpurins (Latvia, bronze medal)
Awards are being presented by Arkady Vorobyev, 3x Olympian, 2x Olympic Champion and former Team USSR Head coach.

This was the last time the USSR national championships included Olympic press competitions. The official IWF sunset of the press lift took place at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The distinguished heavyweight champions on the photo were the last heavyweights (110kg) to win national medals in press.