Weightlifters Getting Ready for the Championship

07.04.1972 (Padomju Jaunatne)

On April 11, the Days of the Strong will begin in Tallinn, from which not only our

in the country alone. World record changes have become a traditional phenomenon in all major weightlifting tournaments of the USSR. This time, 36 sets of medals will be awarded in the national individual championship, but the 9 major champion medals, which are awarded for the victory in the triathlon total, will be of special value. The authority of Soviet weightlifters is so high and the weights lifted are so large that in almost all categories the national champion can already see a place for himself on the Olympic podium. 

Competition in domestic competitions is increasing year by year, and we can proudly say that Latvian strongmen are increasingly participating in the fight for high substances. Last year, at the People's Spartakiad, our athletes took fourth place — behind the teams of the CPSU, Ukraine and Moscow. In the middleweight category, Riga Diamonds athlete Gennady Ivanchenko became the gold medalist, ASK athlete Vladimirs Anikins took second place in the lightweight category, and Daugava athlete Sergejs Poltorackis won the bronze medal in the light heavyweight category.

After the Spartakiad, significant changes took place in the ranks of the republic's strongmen, and only on the good side. This is also evidenced by the great representation that our athletes have gained in the USSR championship. Only the 16 best athletes from all over the country are allowed to compete in this year's individual championships in each weight category. So far, our athletes have won ten places. Dynamos G. Ivanchenko, A. Diņņikovs, J. Klaviņš, V. Pērkons, K. Pumpuriņš , V. Bročs and A. Sliede will go to Tallinn . "Daugava" weightlifters S. Poltorackis and V. Polakovs, as well as Riga ASK athlete V. Aņikins. In terms of the number of participants, ours is in fourth place — behind the KPFSR, Ukrainian and Moscow teams. Daugavpils' K. Petrovs and "Daugava" athlete J. Balgalvis are also applying for participation in the championship.

In the first months of this year, the family of weightlifters has already been replenished with five new masters of sports. Viktors Kireievs, Aleksandrs Titarenko, Sergejs Solomonovs and Jānis Poplavskis lifted the master weight for the first time, but that alone is still not enough to speak at the highest level. Of the new masters, only «Dinamo» lightweight Juris Kļaviņš has been mentioned in the USSR championship.

Of course, the greatest success can be expected from the winners of last year's Spartakiad of the Peoples. Gennady Ivanchenko was the first to open the "five hundred" club, but with his 505 kilograms he has already slipped to third place - behind B. Pavlov from Kharkov (512.5 kg) and V. Shary from Minsk (510 kg). However, in face-to-face competitions, Gennady has never lost to these athletes, and I am almost one hundred percent sure that he will take first place again. Gennady has beaten his opponents with willpower alone at times when his own shoulder or back hurts, but now our best athlete is no longer haunted by any injuries. He speaks quite evasively about his prospects: who knows how the fight will turn out, sometimes pulling is better, sometimes pushing, you never do equally well in all techniques. However, his training partners invited him to go to Tallinn on the evening of April 13. Then you see how a middleweight pushes a 200 kg barbell and lifts 520 kg in the triathlon. B. Pavlov's world records so far are 198 and 512.5 kg.

Any of these three athletes really needs a victory in Tallinn, because then they can prepare for the Olympic Games calmly and systematically, and no longer have to forcefully prove in between that they can lift more weight than the national champion. Gennady thinks that before the Olympics he will only compete in the European Championship in Romania and the Baltic Cup, which will take place in Riga in the first days of July.

B. Pavlov, V. Shary and G. Ivanchenko are the middleweight leaders in the country, in Europe, in the world. Without them only Muscovite V. Ryzhenkovs has lifted 500 kg in the triathlon, but an increase in results and fierce competition can be expected from Ukrainian athlete V. Zelyeznyak, who is also already knocking on the door of the club founded by G. Ivanchenko.

Sergejs Poltoratskis took third place at the People's Spartakiad with 520 kilograms. Recently in Jelgava, he raised his personal and Latvian record to 530 kg. In terms of kilograms lifted, the famous D. Rigerts and V. Kolotovs are ahead of the Riga native. However, in strong competition, when there is a record weight on the bar, Sergejs triples his strength with self-inspiration. Then behind the scenes he charges like a wild lion on the ramp and demands to set a world record on the bar. And he lifts without fear, in Riga he failed to stabilize the weight above his head. But an attempt is not lost. Sergejs will try again, there is no doubt about that.

In the lightweight category, V. Anikins is a pretty strong candidate for a medal.

Our heavyweight Arturs Sliede  this year significantly improved the Latvian absolute record in the triathlon — 565 kg. With this result, he is in the group of weightlifters in the ranking list, which follows immediately behind the two leaders — V. Alekseev and S. Batishchev. V. Yefremov and V. Kuzmin have slightly better chances of a bronze medal than A. Sliede. In addition, it is possible that some strong people will move from the first to the second heavyweight. Such a jump and increase in mass has long been expected from the slender Leningrader P. Pervushin. Then in the future he may become the most dangerous competitor for V. Alekseev.

This time, all athletes can safely strive for personal records and high places, because there is no responsibility to the team for the points. There will be a lot of justified and also reckless risks with the starting weights. By constantly raising them, athletes psychologically manipulate their competitors and sometimes end up in the role of losers themselves.

Let's hope that our athletes will keep their cool and bring home many records of various ranks.

E. GOBA