The Belarusian weightlifter Alexander Kurlovich was called the most inflated weightlifter of the planet and Belarusian Hercules. The Honored Master of Sports twice became the Olympic champion, was a four-time world champion, winner of the World Cup. Two-time European champion set 12 world records.
In the life of every person, republic and country there are joys and sorrows. Time has its own discoveries and losses. The departure and life of two-time Olympic champion Alexander Nikolaevich was a huge loss.
Road to professional sports
The biography of the future athlete began in 1961. The child was born in Grodno on July 28 in an ordinary family. Since childhood, the boy loved sports. He played football with his friends for a long time. In the weightlifting of the boy who became interested in lifting the barbell, his older brother Nikolai brought in 1970. The guy himself engaged in this sport.
Looking at his enthusiasm, the youngest also wanted to learn more about a new type of activity for himself. Coach Nikolai Alexandrovich Kachkov soon drew attention to a capable guy. He became a mentor to the young champion. For the test, he suggested the beginner to lift a little weight, encouraged after a successful attempt.
He made his debut at competitions Kurlovich in the 13th setting of the youth record of the republic. The teenager in a jerk took the weight almost twice as much as his own. Four years later, Alexander O was beaten by another 20 youthful republican records.
After graduating from school, the graduate decided to get an education at the physics department of the University of Grodno. At 22, he became the winner of the Games of the peoples of the USSR. The first was a domestic athlete at the world championship in Ostrava in 1987.
The athlete never thoughtlessly made empty promises to raise enormous weight. To always think, analyze and draw conclusions on mistakes he was taught by a mentor, Honored trainer Pyotr Ivanovich Savitsky
The athlete went to Seoul for the 1988 Olympics as one of the favorites. He totally outstripped his competitor Manfred Nerlinger by 30 kg. The result was Olympic gold. The world media instantly called the athlete the strongest man on the planet.
Success
He confirmed the title of athlete more than once. In Athens, at the world championship in 1989, he climbed to the highest step of the podium. At the World Championships in Donaueshirgen in 1991, he was again out of competition.
Only two representatives of Belarus took part in the XXV Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona in the team of weightlifters of the category over 100 kg. Kurlovich became the winner, the second was his compatriot silt Malorita Leonid Taranenko.
In 1993, Alexander was invited to the Bundesliga. The experience gained in Germany helped to establish an athlete in Istanbul at the world championship in 1994 6 records. Each new attempt became an update of the previous achievement. The result was the World Cup.
Realization of the dream of the third gold of the Olympics was prevented by an injury. In Atlanta, Kurlovich was fifth at the XXVI Summer Olympics. Before Kurlovich’s appearance, only two Soviet weightlifters were able to win two Olympic medals of highest dignity.
In Munich in 1972, awards were awarded to Vasily Alekseev. Leonid Zhabotinsky received gold at the games in Montreal in 1976. Both athletes were very impressive. Alexander Nikolaevich changed the usual perception of the relationship between force and form.
New plans
The weightlifter ended his career with multiple world champion and twice Olympic gold medalist. Kurlovich began his activities as a coach in the group of higher sportsmanship. Representatives of Sweden and Israel came to get acquainted with his methodology and engage in his programs. Later, the athlete switched to refereeing. The language barrier prevented a new kind of activity only at first. The ex-champion resolutely took up the textbooks and managed to learn English.
He did not stop playing sports, constantly training in the gym and at home. In the representative office of the National Olympic Committee of the Grodno region, he became the head of the organization. He was a member of the executive committees of the European and International Weightlifting Federations. He worked for a long time in the Republican Olympic Committee.
The athlete did his best to support the young athletes of the republic. He advocated the construction of new classrooms. He explained the decisions by the fact that future champions begin the path to medals precisely in childhood. The result of the construction of 4 halls in the regional center for weightlifting was the victory of one of the pupils of the sports school of the championship of Belarus youth competitions just two years after the start of training.
