Background
Aleksandr Kurlovich was born on July 28, 1961, in Grodno, at that time USSR.
coach weightlifter international judge
Aleksandr Kurlovich was born on July 28, 1961, in Grodno, at that time USSR.
Aleksandr’s elder brother Nikolai was going in for weightlifting, and when Aleksandr was only 9, his brother took him to the stadium "Red Flag" in Grodno for the first time. Coach Gennady Kachkov noticed him. Since then Aleksandr Kurlovich began training. He studied at Grodno local school. Upon graduation he entered Faculty of Physics of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno.
In 1974, Aleksandr Kurlovich set up a record of the Republic among the youth. He was 13 at that time, weighed 48 kg, and pushed 75, 5 kg. This was the beginning of his successful career in weightlifting. He took part in many championships, tournaments, and won many awards. In the following 4 years he set up 20 Republican records among the youth.
By the end of the university studies, he became world-class athlete and joined Soviet Union national team in 1983. The first all-Union success came to Aleksandr soon. At the age of 22, he won the prestigious Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR (mass multi-event competitions in the Soviet Union) and set up a new world record. Kurlovich first came to international prominence when he finished second at both the European and World Championships to his fellow Ukrainian Soviet, Anatoliy Pysarenko. In 1984, he and Pysarenko were considered as the main favorites for Olympic super-heavyweight gold, but they missed the Olympics in Los Angeles due to the Soviet boycott. At the Friendship Games, which were held by the nations that boycotted the 1984 Olympics, Kurlovich lost to Pysarenko, who lifted a world record 465.0 kg, by 2.5 kg but Kurlovich still lifted 50 kg more than the 1984 Olympic champion.
Later in 1984, both Pysarenko and Kurlovich were arrested at Mirabel Airport in Montreal, when customs officials searched their luggage and found anabolic steroids. The two were convicted by Canadian authorities and fined. Soviet officials dismissed them from the national team and stripped them of their status as “Masters of Sport”, thus losing all the funding and benefits. Pysarenko, three years senior to Kurlovich, decided to quit weightlifting and later became a successful businessman and president of the Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation, but Kurlovich worked his way back to the Soviet national team. Despite no funding and no support from Soviet sports officials, Kurlovich made it back to the national team in 1987 and returned stronger than ever. Kurlovich won the 1987 World Championship with a world record and repeated this victory in 1989, 1991, and 1994. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he became Olympic champion. New season brought new victories. World mass media called him "The strongest man in the world.” He was also European super-heavyweight champion in 1989 and 1990. Domestically, Kurlovich was the Soviet super-heavyweight champion in 1983, 1989 and 1991, while taking silver in 1984 and 1987. Aleksandr Kurlovich continued the Soviet dominance in the unlimited class and claimed the title of world's strongest man by winning the super-heavyweight class at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. During his career, Kurlovich set 12 super-heavyweight world records: six in the snatch, two in the clean & jerk, and four in the total. In 1996, he planned to become three-time Olympic champion in Atlanta, but due to a heavy injury, he was fifth. He finished his career as a heavy weightlifter when he was 35, and became an Internationally Certified Judge. He trained at Armed Forces sports society in Grodno. In 2006, Kurlovich was elected to the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
He worked as an instructor in the voluntary society of sport and physical culture of trade unions, Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, trainer-instructor in weightlifting of the school "Higher sportsmanship" of the Department of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism at the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee. Kurlovich was elected member of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus (fourth convocation). He was Director of the Grodno Branch of the Belarusian Olympic Committee, member of the Executive Committee of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Weightlifting Union, Vice President of the European Weightlifting Federation, Member of the Technical Committee of the International Weightlifting Federation.
Aleksandr Kurlovich had outstanding results in weightlifting and reached success in Sports Diplomacy as well. The two-time Olympic champion. The winner of the Games of the XXIV Summer Olympiad 1988 in Seoul and XXV Summer Olympiad 1992 in Barcelona in the super heavyweight category up to 110 kg (-110kg), four times World Champion (1987,1989,1991,1994), two times European Champion (1989,1990) and World Record holder twelve times, he was one of those few athletes being able to register such incredible achievements. He is considered as the most slender of the three two-time champions, who forced to change the perception of correlation of form and strength. In, 2006 he was elected member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Career bests
Snatch: 215.0 kg in Athens 1989 World Weightlifting Championships.
Clean and jerk: 260.0 kg in Ostrava 1987 World Weightlifting Championships.
Total: 472.5 kg (212.5 + 260.0) 1987 in Ostrava in the class more than 110 kg.
