Leonid Ivanovich Zhabotinsky biography
Leonid Ivanovich Zhabotinsky, (born January 28, 1938, Uspenka, Ukraine, U.S.S.R.—died January 14, 2016, Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine), Soviet weightlifter who gained gold medals within the heavyweight class (+90 kg [+198 pounds]) on the 1964 and 1968 Olympics and set 19 world data over a 12-year interval (1963–74).
Zhabotinsky was born right into a Cossack household and grew up in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in the course of the Nazi navy occupation. He was lively in sports activities, notably shot put, in class and started to deal with weightlifting whereas working in an area tractor manufacturing facility. He competed in his first state championship in 1957, successful the bronze medal. Zhabotinsky stood 6 ft 3 inches (1.9 metres) tall and was exceptionally heavy, weighing 165 kg (364 kilos). At the 1964 Games in Tokyo, he battled his U.S.S.R. teammate, defending champion Yury Vlasov, in a dramatic contest, setting a world file within the clear and jerk to win the gold. Renowned for his nice zeal and win-at-any-cost perspective, Zhabotinsky pretended to concede defeat with one elevate to go, as a ploy to unsettle Vlasov and the opposite rivals. He then returned for his ultimate try, infuriating his opponents, and gained with a complete of 572.5 kg (1,262 kilos), setting a brand new Olympic file. Zhabotinsky was chosen to hold the Soviet flag firstly of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, the place he once more captured the heavyweight gold, with a complete of 572.5 kg.
A knee harm ended his profession in 1974, however Zhabotinsky remained lively as a weightlifting coach. He graduated (1964) from the Kharkiv Pedagogical Institute, and following his retirement as a colonel from the navy (1991), he taught on the Moscow Institute of Business and Law.