Yury Vlasov

Yuriy Vlasov is a Soviet and Russian heavyweight weightlifter, politician and writer. Between 1959 and 1963 he won all the competitions he participated in, with a major success at the Rome 1960 Summer Olympics where he set three world records and became the first man to clean and jerk more than 200 kg (202.5). He was proclaimed the best sportsman of the 1960 Olympics and the "Strongest Man on the Planet". He also competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics and won a silver. At both games Vlasov was the Olympic flag bearer for the Soviet Union. During his career Vlasov won four world titles and set 31 ratified world records. He retired in 1968 and became a prominent writer and later a politician. Vlasov died of natural causes on 13 February 2021, in Moscow, Russia.