General Interest |
| Awards and honours |
In 2008 and 2019 he was named Best Sportsman of the Year in Belarus by a national media poll. He was also voted Best Male Weightlifter of Belarus in the same years. (Facebook profile, 31 Jan 2020; belapan.by, 31 Dec 2019; weightlifting.by, 25 Dec 2019)
He has received the title of Honoured Master of Sport in Belarus. (Athlete, 18 Aug 2020; bwu.by, 01 Jan 2020) |
| Other information |
RETIREMENT AND COMEBACK
He retired from competitive weightlifting in 2016, but returned in 2017 with the aim of competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He even considered competing for a different country. "No one will just put me on the Olympic team. The Belarusian team has had some issues with doping so it [his comeback] might not be until 2019. Due to these reasons I am considering lifting for another country. If this were to happen I hope it will be sooner than later. I need to provide for my family." (barbend.com, 20 Dec 2017)
FINGER REMOVAL
He was born with six fingers on his hand. His sixth finger was removed when he was a teenager. "When I was born I had six fingers on my hand because of Chernobyl [nuclear accident]. My coach gave me an ultimatum - to train for the European championships I had to cut off the finger. At 14 years old I was very scared, but I went by myself to [hospital in] Minsk to cut it off." (barbend.com, 20 Dec 2017)
SUSPENSION
Soon after winning gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, he was caught drink driving and received a suspension on his driving licence. He repeated the offence in 2009, and in addition to another driving ban he was also banned from sporting competitions for two years. This disrupted his training, and caused him to pull out of the 2011 World Championships due to a lack of adequate preparation. (in.reuters.com, 17 May 2012) |
Further Personal Information |
| Residence |
Borisov, BLR |
General Interest |
| Injuries |
He suffered from a torn quad and herniated discs before retiring in 2016. He returned to the sport in 2017. (barbend.com, 03 Apr 2019)
He suffered hip problems for two years after competing at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. (barbend.com, 20 Dec 2017) |
Sport Specific Information |
| Why this sport? |
"At age 10 I started training. I was strong, but my technique was bad. I say that I know all the technical mistakes in weightlifting because I went through all of them myself. At age 14 I started training seriously. I was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. I was kicked out for staying too long. There was nothing to do at home. My friends had already started with alcohol and drugs, I wasn't interested in that. I came to train at 15:00 and left at 21:00. I almost never missed training." |
| Name of coach |
Mikhail Solodar [personal], BLR; Vladimir Borzdakov [personal], BLR |
| When and where did you begin this sport? |
He took up the sport at age eight. He happened to live in the same building as Soviet weightlifter Viktor Groda, who took him to a weightlifting gym. "I wanted to be strong and handsome like him. I never became as handsome." |
Further Personal Information |
| Occupation |
Athlete, Coach |
| Languages |
Russian |
| Family |
Wife Olga, daughter Daria [2011], son Mark [2019] |
General Interest |
| Hobbies |
Video blogging, fishing. (Athlete, 18 Aug 2020) |
| Memorable sporting achievement |
Winning gold in the 105kg category at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. (Athlete, 18 Aug 2020) |
Sport Specific Information |
| Club / Team |
Minsk Regional Complex Centre of Olympic Reserve: Belarus |
Further Personal Information |
| Higher education |
Engineering - Belarusian National Technical University: Minsk, BLR |
General Interest |
| Most influential person in career |
Soviet weightlifter Viktor Groda. (Athlete, 18 Aug 2020) |
Beijing
Pattaya
Ashgabat
Moscow
Batumi
Tel Aviv
Minsk
Puerto de la Cruz
Trencín
Sofia
Stavanger