Yurik Vardanian

Yurik Norairovich Vardanian ( _ru. Юрик Норайрович Варданян, born June 13 1956 in Leninakan, Armenian SSRGreat Russian Encyclopedia (2006), Moscow: Bol'shaya Rossiyskaya Enciklopediya Publisher, vol. 2, pp. 601-602] ) is a former Olympic weightlifter for the USSR. He trained at Lokomotiv in Leninakan.

Vardanyan won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve 400 point totals in 82.5 kg weight category. During his career he set multiple World Records.

He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame. [cite web|title=Weightlifting Hall of Fame|publisher=International Weightlifting Federation|url=http://www.iwf.net/iwf/organization/members.php|accessdate=2008-08-07] Since 1991 Vardanyan lives in the United States.

Weightlifting achievements

*Senior World Champion (1977-79, 1981, 1983, and 1985)
*Silver Medalist in Senior World Championships (1982)
*Senior European Champion (1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, and 1983)
*Silver Medalist in Senior European Championships (1982 and 1984)
*All-time Senior World record holder in total (405kg competing at 82.5kg)
*Multiple Senior World record holder in total (1978-92)
*USSR Champion (1977, 1979-82)No middle weight lifter has ever achieved 400 KG. Only recently, in 2008, a middle weight lifter came close to this record when he was able to lift a total of 396 KG. So why Vardanian does not hold the record? The answer is Vardanian held the record in the 82.5 KG competition. The competition was discontinued in favor of the 83 KG introduced in Atlanta Olympics in 1996 which also was discontinued in favor of the current 85 KG introduced in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Unfortunately, once a weight is discontinued, all records vanish as well. It seems unfair, since Vardanian’s record was set at a lower weight class not higher. You can extrapolate what would Vardanian’s record be if he was 2.5 KG heavier. Add to it that nobody was close to push him lift harder.

One more trivia, the 400 KG set by Vardanian in the 1980 Moscow Olympics was enough to win him a gold medal not only in his weight class but also in two (not one) higher weight classes. Baczako Peter competed in the 94 KG weight class won the gold by recording a total of 377.5 KG and Zaremba Ota who competed in the 100 KG class and recorded 395 KG for the gold in the same 1980 Moscow Olympics. A final Trivia, Vardanian would have a won a fourth medal, bronze this time, in the 110- KG competition as the third place in that competition won by Syzali Gygorgy with 390 KG only. Only one class Vardanian would have been shut off from the medals, and that is the 110+ KG superheavy weight class in which he would finished respectfully in fifth place.

Bibliography

References

External links

* [http://www.chidlovski.net/liftup/l_galleryResult.asp?a_id=285 Yurik Vardanyan's photo, biography and achievements]
* [http://www.weightliftingexchange.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=39&topic=2056.0 Yurik Vardanian - Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange]