Soviet Super Heavyweights, late 1970s: Vasily Alexeev and Aslanbek Yenaldiev
History in Color@LiftUp:
Feodosia, Ukraine, USSR, Summer 1977 – Lead USSR super heavyweights Vasily Alexeev (right) and Aslanbek Yenaldiev are preparing for the 1977 World Championships in Stuttgart.
Vasily Alexeev (1942-2011) remains one of the most successful and colorful Olympic weightlifters of all time even today, 40+ years after his last competition. He was the first lifter to total mythical 600 kg on the three lifts, and 400 kg on the two lifts. His first sporting endeavors were as a successful volleyball player. At the age of 19, he swapped the court for the gym and proceeded collecting national and world titles (22) which, usually, he won with regular ease.
Using his unequalled strength, this colossal Russian lifter (160kg/1.86m) totaled 640 kg on the three lifts during the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. This achievement will never be repeated since the press was discontinued from the Olympic program in 1972. In the 1970’s he remained literally unchallenged. Between 1970 and 1978 Alexeev set 80 world records, a number that is particularly significant when one considers that he allegedly received from the Soviet government a prize of $ 700 to $ 1500 every time he broke a world record. After a serious injury in 1978, Alexeev returned to the Olympics in Moscow (1980). However, past his best, he was unable to even lift the bar higher than his knees.
According to various resources, when he wasn’t training, Alexeev was collecting crystal goblets and Armenian cognac, reading Lenin and the translated works of Jack London, and listening to the recordings of Tom Jones. His supreme confidence touched every part of his life. Not only was Alexeev the world’s greatest super heavyweight, he also considered himself the finest gardener, cook, carpenter, singer and billiards player in perhaps the entire U.S.S.R. Although, I am not sure that most of these were not just his own advertising tricks.
Aslanbek Yenaldiev (1948-2015) was one of the strongest Soviet super heavyweights of the 1970s.
Aslanbek Yenaldiev competed in the 110kg+ class for the Spartak Club of Ordzhanikidze. On the national level, he won the USSR Championships in 1977, the USSR Cup in 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980, won gold medals in the USSR Championships in snatch (1975, 1979) and clean-and-jerk (1975, 1976, 1979, 1980).
On the international arena, Aslanbek was mostly remembered as a back-up of legendary Vasily Alexeev in the super heavyweight class. For the majority of fans, he looked almost like “mini me” of Alexeev and the common opinion was that he wasn’t ambitious enough to challenge the Legend and that, in a way, suited both athletes. Needless to say, that view was not fair to Aslanbek.
In the last few years I managed to speak to many members of Team USSR Weightlifting of the 1970s and ALL of them had a very high opinion of Aslanbek Yenaldiev and named him as a true gentleman and one of the best best teammate they ever had.
With Team CCCP Weightlifting, Yenaldiev became a vice champion of the World and Europe in 1977 and won several Friendship Cups (1977, 1978)
Aslanbek Yenaldiev was a member of Club 500 with a best 525kg total of 3 lifts (180+145+200). His bodyweight at the time was… 119.7kg.
In a 2-lift era, Aslanbek Yenaldiev personal best was 435kg total (187.5+247.5) on December 18, 1976 in Sverdlovsk, Russia. His bodyweight was 151.7kg.
