Aleksandr Kurynov

Aleksandr Kurynov, one of the best middleweight weightlifters in the world at the start of 1960s, took up weightlifting in 1954 while studying at the Kazan Aviation Institute. Kurynov made the Soviet national team in 1958 when he won a silver medal at the Soviet championships. He repeated this feat the following year and won his only Soviet title in 1960, also winning three bronze medals in 1961, 1965 and 1967 at the Soviet championships. Internationally, however, Kurynov was unbeatable in the early 1960s.

He won Olympic gold in 1960, three consecutive World titles (1961-63),bronze in 1965, and the European title from 1960-63. Kurynov was denied a second Olympic gold because he was expelled from the Soviet national team due to a conflict with head coach Arkady Vorobyov, who did not approve of his training methods. Kurynov set 15 middleweight world records between 1958 and 1964: two in the press, four in the snatch, four in the clean & jerk, and five in the total.

In 1963 Kurynov graduated from the Kazan Aviation Institute with an engineering degree and, after working as a weightlifting coach for a short while after retiring from sports, he worked from 1971 until his untimely death due to kidney failure, as an engineer with the Kazan Research Institute of Computer Science. Since 1974 a memorial tournament on his honor has been held in Kazan.