Artur Akoyev

Artur Akoyev made it to the Soviet national team in 1987 after winning a heavyweight bronze at the 1986 Soviet championships and made his international début at the 1987 European Championships, where he won a heavyweight bronze medal. Due to fierce competition inside the Soviet national team, Akoyev next competed internationally at the 1990 World Championships in super-heavyweight, a weight class that was not his natural one, but still managed to win a silver behind the great Leonid Taranenko. In the same year, Akoyev won his second and final medal at the Soviet championships, a silver in heavyweight. The next year was probably his best, as he won both the World and European heavyweight titles and he went to the 1992 Olympics as a clear favorite for the Olympic heavyweight gold medal. At the Olympics, however, Akoyev was upset by Ronny Weller of Germany, whom he had beaten previously in every head-to-head competition, and had to settle for a silver medal. Akoyev also won heavyweight bronze at the 1994 World Championships and retired from weightlifting soon after.