Greek sportsman Dimitrios Zarzavatsidis began weightlifting training in 1971 after advice from his uncle to exercise and lose weight. By the late 1970s Zarzavatsidis had started to represent Greece at international events, winning silver in the heavyweight II -110 kg class at the 1979 Mediterranean Games. One year later he competed in the same event at the Moskva Olympics, where he placed eighth overall. Three years later Zarzavatsidis returned to the Mediterranean Games, where he went one better than before winning gold. At the end of his international career he placed ninth at the 1986 World Weightlifting Championships in the clean & jerk. After his retirement Zarzavatsidis worked for more than a decade as the national youth coach. He was married to fellow Olympian and politician Voula Patoulidou.
Greece