Soviet weightlifter Vasily Alekseev. Men's conversation. Have you added up in your mind?

Date of birth: January 7, 1942
Date of death: November 25, 2011
Place of birth: Ryazan region, Russian Federation

Alekseev Vasily Ivanovich famous weightlifter of the Soviet Union, Alekseev V.I.- became twice Olympic champion in 1972 and 1976 Alekseev, is an Honored Master of Sports, set 81 records in the USSR and 80 world records.

Vasily Alekseev was born on January 7, 1942 into a working-class family in the Miloslavsky district of the Ryazan region, the village of Pokrovo-Shishkino.
In 1953, the whole family moved to the village of Rochegda, Arkhangelsk region. Helping his father with logging, Vasily gained his first experience in lifting weights, but it happened that he lost in a dispute to a high school student, trying to lift the axle of a trolley. Vasily lost, while his opponent playfully raised the axle 12 times.

Alekseev’s first coach was his physical education teacher Semyon Mileiko, and since 1955 he has been participating in all regional youth competitions.

After school, Vasily entered the Forestry Engineering Institute, where he also engaged in weightlifting and by 1961 reached a total weight of 315 kg. Due to family circumstances, Alekseev was forced to go on academic leave and give up sports for a whole year. After this time, having recovered at the institute, Vasily moved to the city of Koryazhma, where, working at the Kolas paper mill, he gradually became a shift supervisor.

After just a year of training, Vasily could already lift up to 442.5 kg and earned a master of sports. But in the Arkhangelsk region there was no base for training and recording his achievements as a weightlifter, Aleekseev was forced to move to the city of Shakhty, where the then famous champion of the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo, Rudolf Plückfelder, trained his players. Due to insurmountable disagreements with this coach, Alekseev had to develop his own training system.

Playing for the national team Soviet Union On January 24, 1970, in Velikiye Luki, Alekseev was able to bypass the records of American weightlifters, as well as the famous Russian athlete Zhabotinsky in triathlon.

At the European Championships in Sambahey on June 28, 1970, Alekseev’s results were impressive - a snatch of 170 kg, a clean and jerk of 225.5 kg and a bench press of 219.5 kg, which became new world records.

In 1971, at the championship in Sofia, Alekseev’s triathlon total was 627.5 kg, again making the athlete the best. At the same time, the weightlifter defended his diploma in mining engineering at the institute.

On September 26, 1971, at the world championship in Lima, the athlete set 2 new world records, thereby confirming his title. As a result, the French Academy of Sports named Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev “athlete of the year.”

And already at his first Olympics in Munich in 1972, Alekseev, without showing his maximum, beat all his rivals and, with a total of three actions of 640 kg, broke the Olympic record. Over the course of 2.5 years, Alekseev broke various world records 54 times, but after the Olympics in Munich, the strongest part of triathlon for Alekseev, the bench press, was canceled and in order to maintain his leading position, Alekseev had to change the training system so as not to harm his health.

Here are the main achievements of Vasily Alekseev for the period 1973-1976:

1973 - 2 world records in the clean and jerk at the European Championships in Madrid, where the double-event total was 417.5 kg.
- 1973 in Havana - Alekseev received the world champion title
- 1974 – Alekseev became European champion
- September 1974 in Manila, the double-event total reached 425 kg, which is as much as 35 kg higher than Reading’s
- 1975 in Moscow at the World and European Championships Alekseev was again first, his records in the clean and jerk and in total were 427.5 kg.
- 1976, at the USSR Championships held in Karaganda, the 76th world record was set - 435 kg
- 1976 at the XXI Olympics held in Montreal, new achievements - snatch 185 kg and clean and jerk - 255 kg.

At the age of 35, Vasily Alekseev set his last eightieth world record, lifted a barbell weighing 256 kg and became an eight-time world champion.

Until XXII Olympic Games Alekseev has not competed for 2 years, and therefore may have lost his superiority, giving way to younger competitors.

Subsequently, Vasily Alekseev decided not to compete anymore, but to pass on his vast coaching experience to a new generation, becoming the coach of the USSR national team in 1989 and until 1992.

On November 9, 2011, due to a heart problem, Alekseev was taken from Barcelona, ​​from the “Great Race” show, where he later died on November 25, 2011 in a Munich clinic.

Achievements of Vasily Alekseev:

In 1972 and 1976 received the title of Olympic champion
In 1970-1971, 1973-1975, 1977 he became world champion 8 times
Set the following records in weightlifting:
- 81 records of the Soviet Union
- 80 world records.
Records of Vasily Alekseev:
- triathlon – 645 kg – existing world record
- biathlon – 445 kg
- in the snatch – 187.5 kg
- in clean and jerk – 256 kg

Dates from the biography of Vasily Alekseev:

January 7, 1942 born in the Ryazan region
Since 1955 he began to participate in lifting competitions
1970 For the first time he defeated the current record holders in the triathlon total.
1971 was named best athlete of the year
1971 won the Olympic Games, setting a new Olympic record - 640 kg
1973 set several world records in Madrid, became world champion in Havana
1974 became European champion.
1975 in Moscow won the World and European Championships
1976 set the 76th world record, won the Olympics in Montreal
1977 broke his last eightieth world record and received the world title for the 8th time.
From 1889 to 1992 he was the coach of the USSR national team
On November 25, 2011, Alekseev died.

Interesting Facts Vasily Alekseev:

He is the Russian idol of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who highly valued Alekseev’s athletic achievements and valued him on a par with Yuri Vlasov and Leonid Zhabotinsky.
The song “Weightlifter” by V. Vysotsky is dedicated to V.I. Alekseev.
Alekseev is depicted on a 1972 Ajman postage stamp.
In memory of Alekseev V.I. a school in his city, a park, an avenue in Shakhty, and one of Aeroflot’s planes were renamed

On November 25, the 80-time world record holder, Soviet weightlifter Vasily Alekseev, died in a Munich clinic. The memory of the great athlete’s sporting exploits will live on for many years to come.

On Friday, November 25, the greatest athlete, two-time Olympic champion, died in the cardiology clinic of Munich, the city where his first “golden” Olympics took place. eight-time champion world, the famous Soviet weightlifter Vasily Alekseev. A real Russian hero, he left the brightest mark in history weightlifting– 81 USSR records and 80 world records, one of which - in the amount of triathlon - will never be surpassed.

If you want to become strong, lift iron

It all started on January 7, 1942, when a fourth child was born into a simple working-class family in the village of Pokrovo-Shishkino, Ryazan Region. His way to weightlifting was in fact predetermined, and all the outstanding difficulties only gave confidence and strengthened the character of the future champion. " Since childhood I have been accustomed to heavy physical work. It was a wonderful school...

Since childhood, I have been accustomed to hard physical work. It was a wonderful school. Nature has rewarded me with great physical strength, more than was necessary for my work. Naturally, I wanted to use these natural abilities in sports.

Nature rewarded me with great physical strength, more than was necessary for my work. Naturally, I wanted to use these natural abilities in sports.", he later recalled.

But at that time about big sport it was too early to say. The athlete saw a real barbell for the first time only at the age of 19 at the institute. And before that, they studied at a school in the Arkhangelsk region, where the Alekseevs moved in 1953, and also helped their father in logging. " Maybe that’s why I don’t feel afraid of a heavy barbell, because in childhood I grabbed the largest logs with some special passion", recalled Vasily Alekseev. The log became his first barbell, the second was the ramp from the trolley. Since 1955, he has already actively participated in all district and regional sports competitions- cross-country, long jump, high jump. At the institute, remembering his long-time hobby, the first thing he did was go to the barbell section, but when he saw how bantamweight athletes were bench-pressing 80 kg, he decided that he was in the wrong place, and eventually opted for volleyball. As it turned out - not for long.

Alekseev’s first appearance on the platform took place in institute competitions in January 1961 - he was asked to defend the honor of the faculty. And he stood up for it. First victory: bench press - 75 kg, snatch - 75 kg, clean and jerk - 95 kg, triathlon total - 245 kg. Then the teacher noticed him physical education S.S. Mileiko, advising: " If you want to become a strong athlete, lift weights.". And Alekseev began to train, although during his student years he had to replace training more with work, especially after he met the first Olympics in his life, which later gave him two sons. Alekseev met this fragile girl while visiting his parents in Rochegda. Their love story lasted almost 50 years.

“I want to be first!”

In the fall of 1966, along with the move to the city of Shakhty, Rostov region, new stage in the life of an athlete. In Shakhty, the winner of the Tokyo Olympics, Rudolf Plückfelder, worked with the weightlifters, and although Vasily Alekseev did not find a common language with the coach himself, there was a place and time for training, for starters, independent training. However, basically they were like that throughout his fantastically bright career. Vasily was always looking for something new and did not take anything for granted. " I try to achieve everything with my mind, with my work. It's more difficult, but more reliable“- this was one of the recipes for his success.

By the time of the move, Alekseev, by his own admission, was already “really ill great sport" He dreamed of the laurels of Vlasov, Zhabotinsky and Batishchev, he worked a lot, for three hours without leaving the barbell. In February 1966, he fulfilled the standard of master of sports in the first heavyweight(442.5 kg), three months later - in the second heavy weight (452.5 kg), and by the end of the season he reached a very respectable amount of 470 kg. In 1967, Vasily Alekseev became a member of the world “Club 500”, in 1968 he won a bronze medal at the USSR Championship in Lugansk. The only idols ahead of him are Jabotinsky and Batishchev. Then, on the back of the photograph where he is captured with these athletes, Vasily Alekseev will write in a sweeping handwriting, which later became famous: “ I want to be the first!"

"Club 600"

The dynamics of the weightlifter’s results were expressed in two words: continuous growth. In 1962, he added 5 kg to his best amount, in 1963 - 65 kg, in 1965 - 15 kg, in 1966 - 60 kg, in 1967 -30 kg, in 1968 - 40 kg. This dynamic was fully consistent with the vision of sport and sporting achievements Vasily Alekseeva: “Sport poses new and big challenges, although the athlete goes to success in small steps - grams, tenths of a second, fractions of a centimeter.”

1970 opened a new era in the history of weightlifting - the era of the “six hundred men”, the era of world records by Vasily Alekseev. Starting from Velikiye Luki, he updated world records in the bench press, clean and jerk, snatch and triathlon total 48 times in two years. Incredible hard work, continuous improvement of technique, along with outstanding talent, allowed him to lift 600 kg in triathlon on March 18, 1970 in Minsk, setting the bar to a new previously unattainable height. " Physically, many were much stronger than me - both in the country and abroad. Especially in squats and deadlifts. But in the technique of lifting the barbell, in the speed of its lifting, I had no equal. I managed to put all my muscles into this lift, and first of all, strength of character and spirit".

In another situation, it was possible to do much more with my strength. But I had a task - to win the Olympic Games. Records were not needed this time. Where there are records, there is risk. But risk is inappropriate at the Olympics.

And then - a victorious march at the national, European, and world championships, and not a single method of preparing for these competitions was similar to another. " I am constantly looking for a method that is rational for my age. I don’t prepare for any competition the way I prepared before. Everything is new! And after the competition I see what the return is - what’s good, what’s bad".

With records came success, worldwide love and fame. It was impossible to get tickets to the halls where competitions with his participation were held. And when the “amazing Vasily Alekseev from Russia” came onto the platform, the entire hall began chanting the word “Record!” The weightlifter understood perfectly well what the public wanted, because in all languages ​​of the world this word sounds almost the same. When Vasily won gold in the second heavyweight category with a 500-pound clean and jerk at the 1970 World Championships in Mexico, the Citizen Journal wrote: " Alekseev caused a storm of delight on the final day of the championship. The dark-haired 28-year-old Russian miner, father of two sons, broke the world record in clean and jerk and repeated in triathlon - 612.5 kg. To what limit can power extend!?"

This limit was known only to the athlete himself, because he had only two opponents: himself and the barbell. Vasily was used to overcoming himself and constantly moving forward to victory with amazing calmness, which made many of his competitors lose their composure at competitions. This was his character, accurately described by Fritz Heymann, a columnist for the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, who knew weightlifting well: “ Now everything depends on the level of training and readiness of the weightlifter. And, of course, his character, his ability to maintain a charge of optimism when working with huge weights. This is exactly the character of the Soviet athlete - Alekseev stood and smiled. And calm was reflected on his face. Especially when 230 kilograms were hanging on the barbell".

“Never hit first, but if it happens, fight back in such a way that it will be remembered...”

On the eve of the Olympic Games in Munich 1972, Rudolf Mang managed to take the world record from Vasily Alekseev, squeezing 230 kg. The answer came exactly two weeks later, when Alekseev regained the title of record holder, adding 5 kg to Mang’s result, which incredibly amazed him. " I, of course, expected that Alekseev would try to regain his record, but I did not expect that he would do it so quickly, with such a margin.

I admit, this Russian hero stunned me", the German lamented. When these words were translated to Vasily Alekseev, he commented on them in his own manner: " It’s been in my character since childhood: never to hit first, but if it happens, fight back in such a way that it will be remembered...“And within a month he managed to update world records 6 more times, approaching the Olympics with a result of 645 kg.

In Munich, the leaders of our country expected only victory from the weightlifter, and the fans - new records. For him, the main thing was to justify trust. The team was in a difficult situation: four athletes dropped out of the fight, receiving “steering wheels”. There was no risk in such a situation. And he, stepping on the throat of his own song, acted like a real captain - reliably! " In another situation, it was possible to do much more with my strength. But I had a task - to win the Olympic Games. Records were not needed this time. Where there are records, there is risk. But risk is inappropriate at the Olympics"Although he still broke one Olympic record, set by Jabotinsky during a fight with Vlasov in Tokyo, gaining a total of 640 kg in triathlon!

“I would like to ignite others with my example and call young people to great achievements!”

If the bench press had not been canceled in 1972, Vasily Alekseev could well have opened the doors of the new “700 Club”. At that time, he already scored 680: 250 stung, 180 tore and 260 pushed." However, history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, and let his record among the “six hundred men” remain undefeated. Over the next five years, he rewrote the book of world records 24 more times and became a two-time Olympic champion.

Physically, many were much stronger than me - both in the country and abroad. Especially in squats and deadlifts. But in the technique of lifting the barbell, in the speed of its lifting, I had no equal. I managed to put all my muscles into this lift, and first of all, my strength of character and spirit.

And then back in 1972, after being awarded in the Kremlin, when asked what he was thinking about, Vasily Alekseev answered: “ Now there is no bench press. And the amount of 700 kg can only remain in the imagination. People will now have to get used to different ideas, to different guidelines of power. If you now add up the world records in the clean and jerk and snatch, you get 417.5 kg. And 450 kg will be equivalent to seven hundred in triathlon. I want, you know, I really want to reach this milestone, to leave a good gift for people as a souvenir. Until the last moment, while I have the strength, I would like to thank my country for this high award, for myself and for my fellow athletes. And I also want to ignite others with my example and call young people to great achievements!.."

Vasily Alekseev- a weightlifter with a worldwide reputation. During his life, this amazing man set a total of more than 160 records, many of which are world records, and one will forever remain unshakable, since competitions in this discipline are no longer held. This is real rod master, eight times world champion and twice Olympic gold medalist. About biography and records of Vasily Alekseev– the greatest weightlifter of the 20th century, and will be discussed in our article.

Vasily Alekseev in his childhood and youth.
How did the formation of a great weightlifter take place?

Vasily Alekseev was born on January 7, 1942. The great weightlifter spent his childhood years in the village of Pokrovo-Shishkino, Ryazan region. His father, Ivan Ivanovich, was a simple worker at a distillery. It became more and more difficult to support a large family every year, and in 1953 the Alekseevs left their native land, moving to the Arkhangelsk region.

In the harsh taiga conditions, the formation of the future champion began. WITH early years Vasily worked in logging, honing his muscle strength on bulky, heavy logs. The smart, inquisitive young man felt that fate had destined him for something more than cutting down forest for the rest of his life. One day he saw a neighbor famously lifting a homemade barbell and decided to reproduce the workout at home. Since the guy did not have a suitable simulator, his role was played by the axle from the trolley. In reality, everything turned out to be much more complicated, but the young athlete was persistent. After several months of intensive training, the barbell conquered him.

Vasily Ivanovich became seriously interested in sports: he regularly participated in district and regional competitions in jumping and played volleyball. In 1961 he entered the Arkhangelsk Forestry Institute. As a student, I became closely involved strength training. In the basement of the hostel he set up a makeshift gym, working out with everything that could even remotely pass for weightlifting equipment. The noise of the iron infuriated the neighbors, who complained about the noisy student to the executive committee. Alekseev was severely reprimanded and given a large fine to discourage him from being willful in the future.

Fortunately, the guy’s enthusiasm did not escape the attention of people competent in sports affairs. An experienced coach took Vasily under his wing Semyon Mileiko, who became his first mentor. While studying in the first year, Vasily Alekseev took part in weightlifting competitions for the institute championship, which he won, gaining a total of 245 kilograms in triathlon.

During the holidays, the athlete met the love of his life - a girl with the very symbolic name Olympiad. They lived together for almost 50 years, raising two sons.

Becoming barbell masters.
Championship titles and records

Becoming barbell masters began in 1966, when he and his family moved to the small town of Shakhty, Rostov region. Here the promising athlete was immediately noticed by the current Olympic champion Rudolf Plückfelder, who invited him to train in his athletic section. Alekseev trained for some time under the guidance of a titled mentor, but then their paths diverged, and the young athlete began to prepare using his own method.

Vasily Ivanovich no longer thought of any other calling for himself, having firmly decided to become professional athlete. He made his way to the title of candidate master of sports in just a year, managing to combine 3-hour daily work and hard mining work. In 1967, he literally broke into the weightlifting elite, gaining more than 500 kilograms in the triathlon total. This opens up a direct path for him to his first serious competitions. In 1968 at the USSR Championship rod master becomes a bronze medalist, but for a purposeful athlete this success was akin to defeat. Vivid evidence of this is the famous inscription made by Alekseev on the back of the photograph, where he was captured with the gold and silver medalist of the competition: “ I want to be the first!”

And he managed to do this. Since 1970, for Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev a victorious period opens. In 8 years, he became an 8-time world champion, a two-time Olympic champion, and also won the European and USSR championships 7 times each. In just 2 years, he managed to update 48 world records! By that time, our hero had conquered the next level - 600 kilograms in triathlon.

In 1972, the Soviet athlete set his last world record in this discipline - 645 kilograms. This achievement remained unshakable, since after the Olympics in Munich the bench press was excluded from triathlon. During training, Vasily Ivanovich managed to squeeze 680 kilograms, but was unable to overcome the cherished milestone of 700, which he regretted a lot. According to the athlete himself, he wanted to leave a good memory of himself for his descendants. Boom Master was, of course, too strict with himself, since his sports heritage is already colossal: 80 world records and 81 USSR records.

Career great weightlifter could have ended in 1969 if he had not listened to the advice of doctors and trainers. Yielding to persuasion, the athlete left competitions and training for six months to heal an old injury, and returned to duty as an invincible champion and absolute record holder.

Olympic triumphant

In 1972 Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev for the first time becomes Olympic winners. The athlete prepared for the main tournament of his life as if for a real war. And on the eve of the Olympics in Munich, a German athlete Rudolf Mang beat the current world Vasily Alekseev's record– 230 kilograms in the bench press. The Soviet athlete, not accustomed to being in debt, responded in a sporting manner, boldly and powerfully - 235 kilograms. The delighted Mang could only admit his own powerlessness and acknowledge the superiority of his powerful rival.

To the Olympic tournament rod master arrived not only as the main favorite, but also everyone’s favorite. At every competition where he performed, the audience invariably chanted only one word, which sounded approximately the same in all languages: “Record!” Everyone expected new unimaginable achievements from this good-natured, smiling hero, and he paid for warmth and support accordingly - lifting weights that seemed prohibitive to other athletes.

At the Olympics Vasily Alekseev showed the qualities of a true leader. By the time he entered the fight for medals, his teammates had already finished their performance with very modest results. The whole country looked at him with bated breath, expecting only victory. Alekseev understood this perfectly well and therefore could not put personal interests above his duty to the nation. Undoubtedly, Olympic winner could overcome significantly larger, record weights, but it was a significant risk. Should I take on a task that is too much for my rivals, becoming a champion and adding another record to my collection, or should I take the path of least resistance? The Soviet athlete made a wise, balanced decision and ultimately brought the USSR national team well-deserved gold.

The path to the next Olympic competition for Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev was no longer so easy. Numerous injuries often made themselves felt, and the worthy opponents grew up. However, experience and an irrepressible desire to win helped to the barbell master conquer new heights. In 1976, at the Montreal Olympics, he again had no equal. Having lifted 255 kilograms in the clean and jerk, he forced his competitors to capitulate, and the spectators stood and applauded the feat of the Soviet athlete.

And preparations began again, this time for the home Moscow Olympics, victory in which would be a worthy conclusion for Alekseev sports career. But on the way to the coveted gold stood another sworn enemy of any athlete - age. Vasily Ivanovich decided to save himself by refusing to participate in intermediate competitions. However, I trained just as hard, although I did not lift 30-40 tons of iron per day as before.

Few doubted that the third olympic gold he will get it, but fortune has turned away from him great weightlifter. Almost 2 years of absence of competitive practice, as well as severe psychological oppression, made themselves felt - sports hegemony barbell masters ended in 1980. The former Olympic champion reacted calmly and almost with relief to the defeat. He had long been thinking about retiring, giving way to the young.

Coaching activities .
last years of life
great weightlifter

From 1989 to 1992 Vasily Alekseev served as coach of the USSR national weightlifting team. Coaching activities once again opened for him what seemed to be a forever closed door to big-time sports. Under the strict but skillful leadership of the former champion, many masters of sports were trained. His players returned from the Barcelona Olympics with a whole bunch of medals: five gold, four silver and one bronze. The wisdom of Alekseev as a coach is eloquently evidenced by the fact that none of his students have ever been injured. In his new role, the legendary athlete continued to faithfully serve his native country and left his post only when she passed away. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the last page in his sports career closed barbell masters.

In 2011, Vasily Alekseev joined the coaching staff Russian team on the popular sports show " Big races" However, he was soon urgently hospitalized in one of the German clinics due to heart problems. November 25, 2011 greatest weightlifter The 20th century is gone. Buried Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev in the city of Shakhty, where he lived most of his life and where his championship path began. In 2014, Shakhty residents erected a monument to the legendary fellow countryman. And at the beginning of 2017, a memorial memorial to the athlete was opened in his homeland - in the Ryazan region.

Let us add that the song “ Weightlifter", written by the famous Soviet bard and good friend of the legendary athlete Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky.

Training principles
Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev

Let's look at some training principles Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev, which guided him during his studies.

• Train 4 hours a day: two in the morning and two in the evening. During this time great weightlifter lifted a total of up to 40 tons! At the same time, he never used excessive loads, working only with proven weights. Records Vasily Alekseev preferred to bet at competitions.
• Use the exercise that works best and work with it until you are completely tired..
• Vary your workouts and don’t neglect them aerobic exercise . The barbell master himself was very fond of running and skiing, and also enjoyed playing volleyball, wearing a special load belt. He also used additional weights during his main classes. In the summer, Vasily Ivanovich loved to exercise outdoors, and as an alternative workout, he pulled weights out of water.
• Drink more fluids. Friends and colleagues said that Alekseev took a large samovar with tea with him to training, which he drank there. This drink was his personal and only dope.
• Going to training is like going to a holiday. Working through reluctance will not achieve success. You need to truly love what you do.

It is also worth noting that he set records and won titles Vasily Alekseev without resorting to chemicals. The doping tests of this outstanding athlete always remained clean.

The secret to success for natural athletes is intense work on themselves and a healthy, balanced diet. IN modern sports additional sources essential nutrients are vitamin and mineral complexes. One of them can be recommended as a dietary supplement " ", created on the basis of natural plant components and beekeeping products. This is an excellent tool for natural recruitment and preservation muscle mass, as well as the body’s adaptation to exhausting training.

In 1970 Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated “The Weightlifter’s Song” to him. Already Vasily Alekseev set many world records and wrote his name in the history of sports. But this was not enough for him. He always wanted to be the best. The best in the world, the best in history.

The first training equipment of the future athlete was... an axle from a trolley. The boy absolutely loved lifting it above his head. And he first saw a barbell only at the age of 19. And their relationship somehow didn’t work out right away: the thin, rough neck seemed very sharp to him. “I left after the first training session - I didn’t like the barbell,- Vasily Ivanovich said in a conversation with Dmitry Gordon. - And then they persuaded me to speak for the course, for the faculty, for the entire forestry engineering institute, and by spring I was already the champion of the course, the institute, and the region.” So he entered the championship race.

It’s amazing that Vasily Alekseev doesn’t have a single silver or bronze medal in the international arena. If you became a prize-winner, and you almost always did, you would definitely take gold – at 2 Olympics, 6 European Championships and 8 World Championships.

Alekseev became the first member of the so-called “six hundred club,” that is, the first weightlifter to reach the 600 kilogram mark in triathlon. The weight seemed unthinkable, but later the Soviet strongman managed to add another 45 kilograms to it. This record is called eternal. Probably, no one will really beat him anymore, since the standing press has been excluded from the modern weightlifting program.

Perhaps the most unique achievement of Vasily Alekseev is the sheer number of world records. The Soviet hero has as many as 80 of them in his piggy bank! Hardly any of the athletes can boast of such success. Among weightlifters, no one has come close to achieving such results and is unlikely to come close. At least today's champion weightlifters give the impression of being people of their time. And Vasily Ivanovich was ahead of his time. World records were not only obeyed by him - they could not keep up with him. Alekseev churned them out one after another, as if mocking the prevailing ideas in society about the limits of human capabilities. The fans still couldn’t get over his previous achievement, but he was already putting new kilograms on the barbell.

But Vasily Alekseev was by no means a darling of fate, to whom nature gave heroic strength and allowed him to lift enormous weights without difficulty. On the contrary, behind every record there is a colossal amount of work. The legendary athlete trained until it hurt, until he was completely exhausted, and moved on to a new exercise only when nausea crept up his throat. And here it is inappropriate to argue that, they say, all weightlifters train a lot. “A huge army of Soviet coaches adhered to one school, but I went a different way,”- Alekseev admitted. And if his colleagues in the workshop had enough to lift 4 tons during training, then he lifted 25 tons in the morning and 15 tons in the evening. Moreover, he liked to create the most uncomfortable conditions for himself: for example, starting training not early in the morning, but at noon, in the heat. A normal occurrence, according to the recollections of Vasily Ivanovich’s wife, was training late at night. “Now weightlifters come to the gym, but in the winter I trained in basements, in the summer - on the street,- Vasily Ivanovich told the same Gordon. - And all this tempered me and gave me purposefulness. Look, these days the guys are a perfect match: talented, healthy, they feed them to their fill, but there are no records.”

In addition, Alekseev showed himself to be an outstanding intellectual. He constantly experimented and looked for new techniques. Fans of the strongman know about his training in water. The barbell was lighter underwater, but the legs also moved more slowly (and explosive force legs play a decisive role in weightlifting). Another Alekseevsky know-how is bending over a goat with a barbell around the neck (hyperextension). With this exercise, Alekseev actively pumped up his lower back after a severe back injury. Of course, it was not he who invented the slopes themselves, but it was from his inception that the slopes began important element training new generations of weightlifters. Mine training process Vasily Ivanovich learned to plan so that by the time of the competition he was always at the peak of his form - an extremely important skill that not all athletes possess. In a word, the sport required incredible tension from Alekseev. And in this constant tension - physical, mental, psychological - the “Russian bear” remained from day to day, from year to year. This is how records were born.

By the way, Alekseev’s star in big-time sports lit up quite late. He began performing on the international stage only at the age of 28. For comparison, another great Soviet weightlifter Yuri Vlasov By the age of 28, he was already an Olympic champion and a multiple European and world champion. And this also shows how thorny Alekseev’s path to the top of the sport was.

At first, they didn’t have much hope for him. But he knew that he would be the best of the best. This is another secret of his success: both in the locker room and on the platform, the athlete was always unshakably calm and self-confident. He exuded some amazing inner strength that his rivals clearly did not possess. In the West, although Alekseev was nicknamed the “Russian bear,” it is more appropriate to compare him with a lion, the king of animals.

In everyday life he was as simple and calm as in competitions. Judge for yourself: “...we are sitting in the dining car, and four ordinary peasants are seated behind us. Suddenly one of them says: “There’s the most strong man planet Alekseev" (and before that I set four records and beat Jabotinsky in total). The second one echoes him: “Come on - some kind of goat is sitting” - and to me: “Do you hear, you goat?!” I didn’t answer: just as I was eating hodgepodge, bending over, I continue to eat, when a glass flies at the back of my head - and smashes it into pieces on my head! Meanwhile, I still have zero attention: I continue to finish the hodgepodge!” Of course, it would not be difficult for a strong man to twist the offenders into a ram's horn. But Alekseev soberly judged that he was dealing with provocateurs. If you answer them, in the end you yourself will remain guilty (and there were important competitions ahead). The rowdies were so impressed by the weightlifter's composure that they no longer approached him.

Vasily Alekseev did not allow himself to lose his dignity even in front of, as they say, big people. Even the US President was no exception. Athlete's team partner Gennady Bessonov recalls a funny incident: “After the victory in 1976, we were invited to the reception of the then US President Carter. We've been waiting at the reception for an hour and a half. And then Vasily stood up and said: “I have a lot of spare parts like a crankcase in the garage,” we laughed, turned around and left. The translator still didn’t understand the meaning of this joke.”

Ironically, after the collapse of the USSR, the experience of the greatest weightlifter in his homeland was not in demand, although before that Alekseev successfully coached the Soviet national team. Why wasn’t there a place for him on the coaching staff of the Russian team? We don't know this. Vasily Ivanovich himself answered simply: they didn’t invite him, so he didn’t go. It was beneath his dignity to ask.

In general, the collapse of the Soviet Union was for him with a heavy blow. He admitted to journalists that he felt like an orphan. Until the end of his life, Alekseev was never able to get used to the new living conditions, where money and selfish interests took the place of the main values.

In 2012, he had to celebrate two big dates at once - the 70th anniversary and the 50th anniversary life together with his wife Olympiada Ivanovna. I was going to write my memoirs. Fate, alas, decreed otherwise. Vasily Ivanovich died on November 25, 2011.

Among the numerous domestic weightlifters, Vasily Alekseev was and remains the greatest. But he differs from the rest not only in his monstrous strength and number of records. In his behavior, in his conversation, in his very appearance, there is something close to every Russian person. There is no falsehood in it, it is beautiful in its simplicity. This is how we will remember him - the simple and sincere hero Vasily Alekseev.

Alekseev Vasily Ivanovich (born in 1942) - Russian athlete (weightlifting). Became Olympic champion in 1972 and 1976.

He won the world championships eight times, the European championships six times, and the USSR championships seven times.

Set 80 world records. Honored Master of Sports.

Vasily Alekseev was born on January 7, 1942 in the village of Pokrovo-Shishkino, Ryazan region, becoming the fourth child in the family. His father worked at a local distillery. When Vasya was eleven, the family moved to the village of Rochegda in the Arkhangelsk region. During the holidays, the boy helped the family harvest and float timber and became accustomed to lifting heavy logs.

One day, having decided to compete with a high school student, Vasily tried to squeeze the axle of the trolley. His attempt was unsuccessful, but his opponent lifted the iron twelve times. After this incident, Vasya Alekseev began training under the guidance of a physical education teacher, and since 1955 he became a mandatory participant in all district and regional youth competitions.

After graduating from school, Vasily entered the Arkhangelsk Forestry Institute, where he continued his sports activities. However, after he gained a total weight of 315 kg in 1961, Alekseev interrupted his studies, took an academic leave and, after getting married, went to the Tyumen region to earn money.

Upon returning, Alekseev transferred to the correspondence department and continued his studies at the institute. Having moved with his family to the town of Koryazhma, Vasily worked as a shift foreman in the biological treatment workshop of the Kotlas pulp and paper mill, soon becoming a shift supervisor.

After a year of training, Vasily Alekseev fulfilled the standard of a master of sports, lifting 442.5 kg. However, in Arkhangelsk they refused to register the achievements of the extraordinary athlete, and he went to the city of Shakhty in the Rostov region, where weightlifters trained under the guidance of the Tokyo Olympics champion Rudolf Plückfelder. However, not finding a common language with the eminent coach, he continued his studies on his own and developed his own training system, which gave the highest results.

Soon Vasily Alekseev played for the USSR national team, but, having torn his back, he was excluded from the team, because doctors categorically forbade him to lift weights. Despite the prohibitions, on January 24, 1970, at a performance in Velikiye Luki, the athlete broke the records of Americans Robert Bednarsky and Joseph Dube, and also twice the results of the leader Soviet weightlifters Zhabotinsky in the total triathlon. And in March international competitions For the first time in the world, he overcame the six hundred kilogram mark at the Friendship Cup. In June of the same year, at the European Championships, Alekseev bench pressed 219.5 kg, snatched 170 kg and clean and jerked 225.5 kg, setting new world records. And in 1970, at the World Championships in the USA, he lifted a 500-pound barbell for the first time and thereby caused a hail of admiration from a crowd of six thousand spectators. When a girl approached the champion to present him with a gold cup for this victory, right hand the athlete raised it and the cup with his left, drawing thunderous applause from the audience.

In 1971, the European Championship was held in Sofia, at which Alekseev again turned out to be the best. After returning home, he successfully defended his thesis, receiving the specialty of a mining engineer.

Then there was the world weightlifting championship in Lima, where the athlete confirmed his title absolute champion world and set three world records. After this victory, the French Academy of Sports named Vasily Alekseev “the number one athlete of 1971.” At the same time, he was awarded the "President's Prize". By the beginning of the XX Olympic Games, the athlete reached a total weight of 645 kg. And during the Olympic competitions themselves, he decided not to take risks, not to push Weight Limit, and, smoothly beating his rivals Manta and Reading, gained a total of 640 kg in triathlon - an Olympic record.

In just two and a half years, Vasily Alekseev rose to the highest level of his sports career, breaking world records 54 times. However, one of the types of triathlon - the bench press, in which the athlete had no equal in the whole world - was canceled after the XX Olympics. In the future, he had to work hard on himself in order to achieve new victories and not damage his health. And his hopes came true.

At the European Championships in Madrid in 1973, the Russian hero set two world records in the clean and jerk, and totaled 417.5 kg in the double event. Then, at the world championship in Havana, he once again became world champion, and in May 1974, European champion. After that, at the World Championships in Manila, he lifted 35 kg (425 kg in double-event total) more than his main opponent Reading.

In 1975, the World and European Championships were held in Moscow, at which Alekseev’s main rival was twenty-two-year-old Bulgarian Hristo Plachkov. But the Russian strongman again came out on top, setting records in the clean and jerk and total - 427.5 kg.

In 1976, the athlete set the 76th world record at the USSR Championship in Karaganda - 435 kg, and at the next Olympics in Montreal, a weightlifter who weighed 156.8 kg lifted 185 kg and pushed 255 kg.

At thirty-five years old, Vasily Alekseev became the world champion for the eighth time; in November 1977, he lifted a barbell weighing 256 kg, setting the eightieth world record.

Two years before the start XXII Olympic Alekseev stopped competing in games and decided to conserve his strength. Apparently, during this period he lost, as the athletes say, the feeling of the platform and dropped out of the game, losing the championship to younger and more energetic rivals.

After this, the eminent champion became the coach of the USSR weightlifting team and until 1990 he was training new champions in this sport.

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