Yevgeny Lopatin

Yevgeny Lopatin was one of three great featherweight weightlifters, besides Rapael Chimishk’iani and Nikolay Saksonov, who emerged from the Soviet Union at the end of 1940s and start of 1950s. Lopatin was Soviet champion in featherweight in 1947, 1948 and 1950 and won silvers in 1945, 1946 and 1949 and bronze in 1951. He also won the European title in featherweight in 1950 and silver in 1947, adding a silver in featherweight at the 1950 World Championships. In 1952 Lopatin decided to switch to lightweight, where the competition in the Soviet Union was easier than in featherweight. Lopatin won the Soviet title as a lightweight in 1952 and also won lightweight silver at the 1952 Olympics, but then decided to retire from sports. After his retirement from sports, Lopatin worked as a weightlifting coach in Moscow. He also coached his son Sergey, who won silver in the lightweight class at the 1961 World Championships and set several world records, but never competed at the Olympics.