Naim Süleymanoğlu was a Turkish Olympic weightlifter. He was a seven-time World Weightlifting champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist who set 46 world records. At 147 cm in height, Süleymanoğlu's short stature and great strength led to him being nicknamed "Pocket Hercules". He is widely considered as one of the greatest Olympic weightlifters of all time, with many calling him the best pound-for-pound weightlifter in the history of weightlifting.
Leonid Arkadevich Taranenko is a former Soviet/Belarusian weightlifter and coach. His 266 kg clean and jerk in 1988 was the heaviest lift in competition for 33 years, until Lasha Talakhadze exceeded it, lifting 267 at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships.
Yury Ivanovich Zakharevich is a former Olympic weightlifter for the Soviet Union. He trained at Dynamo in Dimitrovgrad. Yury competed in the middle-heavyweight (90 kg), sub-heavyweight (100 kg) and heavyweight (110 kg) weight classes during his career.
Yuri Norayrovich Vardanyan was a Soviet Armenian weightlifter. Vardanyan won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve a 400 kilogram total in the 82.5 kg weight category. During his career he set several world records. He trained at Lokomotiv in Leninakan, Armenia. 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 a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Ivan Ivanov Ivanov is a Bulgarian former weightlifter and current head coach of the national Bulgarian weightlifting teams. He claimed one gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games, four time World Champion, and five time European Champion. He won the 1990 World Cup. Ivan also won 1991 World Cup Final in Barcelona and 1990 World Cup Final in Tainan, and in 1989 in Lisbon he finished second. In 1990, he became a gold medalist in Total and Clean, and Jerk and silver, medalist in Snatch of the Goodwill Games in Seattle. Ivanov was named the Best Weightlifter in the World by the International Weightlifting Federation for 1989 and 1990. Ivanov is also a three-time World Junior Champion and twice European Junior Champion. He was elected as the best coach of Bulgaria for 2019 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the country together with the trainer on rhythmic gymnastics Vesela Dimitrova.
Blagoy Blagoev is a retired Bulgarian weightlifter. Between 1976 and 1984 he claimed seven gold and five silver medals at the Summer Olympics and World and European championships. He set 18 world records. 13 of them were in the snatch. His last snatch world record was 195.5 kg in the 90 kg weight class, set on 1 May 1983 in Varna and remains the heaviest weight ever snatched by a middle heavyweight. Blagoev was twice declared the Best Weightlifter in the World by the International Weightlifting Federation - in 1982 and 1983. Blagoev was named Sportsperson of the Year in Bulgaria for 1982.
David Morgan is a Welsh weightlifter.
Asen Zlatev is a former Bulgarian weightlifter.
Ivan Chakarov, also known as "James Dean" of weightlifting, born 1966, is a Bulgarian world class weightlifter who won gold medals in the 91 kg class at the 1993 World Weightlifting Championships in Melbourne, Australia and in the 90 kg class at the 1991 European Weightlifting Championships in Władysławowo, Poland. He also competed in the men's middle heavyweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Chakarov won European Cup with the team of Bulgaria in Angers 1988 and Sofia 1989. He began training in 1979 at the Chernomorets Burgas Club. His first coach is Konstantin Darov. Chakarov competed for Chernomorets until 1985. After that, until the end of his long and successful career, he competed only for CSKA Sofia. His personal coaches were Andon Nikolov, Rumen Alexandrov and Neno Terziyski. Chakarov has set two world records.
Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan is an Armenian weightlifter. He was awarded the Honored Master of Sports of Armenia title in 2009. Martirosyan is an Armenian Champion, three-time European Champion, World Champion and was temporarily acknowledged as the youngest Olympic medalist from Armenia before being stripped of the medal for doping violations.
Aleksandar Varbanov was a weightlifter for Bulgaria. Varbanov is one of the greatest weightlifters of all-time. Alexander has the 9th highest Sinclair ever of 485.78 made up of a 167.5 kg snatch and a 215 kg clean and jerk at under 75 kg in body weight! He is without a doubt the greatest clean and jerker of that bodyweight of all-time. As well as being a sensational athlete, Alexander Varbanov was part of the most dominant team in weightlifting history: The Bulgarian national team of the 1980s. He was also coached by the most successful coach of all-time, the great Ivan Abadjiev, a man whom Varbanov referred to as being ‘closer to me than my father. Alex has won numerous World Championships and European Championships in the 67.5 and 75 kg bodyweight divisions and a Bronze Medal from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He has earned 10 official world records two still current to this date, 215.5 kg Clean and Jerk and 382.5 kg Total. He started training in 1977. Until 1981 he was a competitor of the native Novi Pazar. Then in the period 1981-1984 he competed for CSKA Sofia. Then until 1990 he was part of the Levski club. From 1990 to 1995 Varbanov competed for the German team AC Mutterstadt in Weightlifting Bundesliga. He has built a strong reputation of a weightlifting professional. He has a Master’s degree from the National Sports Academy of Bulgaria and is a Honored Master of Sports. Alex is NCCP certified Olympic Weightlifting Competition Development coach. He now lives and works as a weightlifting trainer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Sevdalin Minchev Angelov is a retired male weightlifter from Bulgaria. He is a four-time Olympian. Minchev is a 1996 Atlanta Olympics bronze medalist, four-time European champion, seven-time European vice-champion, world vice-champion and four-time world bronze medalist. Sevdalin is also a world champion for juniors from Varna in 1992 and second in the world a year later. He is a four-time European Junior Champion from Varna 1991, Cardiff 1992, Valencia 1993 and Rome 1994. He has 65 medals - 24 gold, 27 silver and 14 bronze, from the snatch, clean and jerk and total from World and European championships for men and juniors, and the Olympic Games, which is a record not only in Bulgarian weightlifting, but also in Bulgarian sports in general. During his career Minchev has set three world records - two for men and one for juniors. He has a long and successful career. Minchev started training in 1986 and he competed for only one club - Sliven. His personal trainer is Hristo Bachvarov. In the national team of Bulgaria he was coached by Ivan Abadjiev, Norair Nurikyan, Yordan Ivanov, Yanko Rusev, Plamen Asparuhov and Neno Terziisky. Minchev is the eight-time champion of Bulgaria - six times for men and two times for juniors. At the 2000 Sidney Summer Olympics, Minchev was disqualified and his results nullified. Minchev tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide. Sevdalin was stripped of his bronze medal.
Adrian Kebbe is a retired Australian weightlifter and Presbyterian Minister.
Chen Lijun is a Chinese weightlifter, Olympic Champion, five time World Champion and two time Asian Champion competing in the 62 kg division until 2018 and 67 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
These are the results of the Men's Lightweight Weightlifting Event at the 1980 Olympic Weightlifting competition in Moscow. A total of 20 men competed in this event, limited to competitors with a maximum body weight of 67.5 kilograms.
Shi Zhiyong is a Chinese weightlifter, two time Olympic Champion, three time World Champion and four time Asian Champion competing in the 69 kg category until 2018 and 73 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Lasha Talakhadze is a Georgian weightlifter, holding the all-time world records regardless of weight category in the snatch, the clean and jerk, and the total since 2021.
Mincho Pashov was a Bulgarian weightlifter. He won the bronze medal in the 67.5 kg in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In 1980 and 1981 he was a world junior champion. He is three-time World Senior vice-champion - 1981, 1982, 1985, and two-time European Senior vice-champion - 1981, 1982, in 67,5 and 75 kg category. At the World Championship in 1982 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, he and Yanko Rusev improved six world records in six minutes in the category up to 75 kg. Pashov started training weightlifting in 1972 under Gancho Karushkov. He studied at the Vasil Levski Sports School and continued his education at the National Sports Academy. Mincho Pashov competed for the teams of Maritsa Plovdiv, CSKA and Levski-Spartak. Pashov has won a total of 25 medals - 7 gold, 12 silver and 6 bronze, in total, snatch and clean and jerk from Olympic Games, World and European Championships. Despite being a very strong contender, Pashov never won a top gold medal on the international arena. He had a superb opponents’ list including his teammates Yanko Rusev and Joachim Kunz when he pursued the win in the lightweight. And then in the middleweight he was facing, first, Yanko Rusev and then another fascinating athlete Alexander Varbanov. Pashov set three world records in his career – all three in the clean-and-jerk in the 75 kg class.
Angel Hriskov Rusev is a Bulgarian weightlifter.
Karlos May Nasar is a Bulgarian weightlifter who is an Olympic, two-time World and two-time European champion and one of the youngest weightlifting world record holders ever.
