Alyaksandr Kurlowitsch

Alexander Kurlowitsch
Personal information
Surname:	Alexander Nikolayevich Kurlowitsch
Nationality:	USSR Belarus
Date of birth:	July 27, 1961
Place of birth:	Hrodna
Date of death:	April 6, 2018
Place of death:	Hrodna
Size:	185 cm
Medal table

Alyaksandr Mikalayevich Kurlovich ( Belarusian Аляксандр Мікалаевіч Курловіч , Russian Александр Николаевич Курлович , Alexander Nikolayevich Kurlovich * 27. July 1961 in Grodno , † 6. April 2018 ) was a Soviet / Belarusian weightlifter in the super heavyweight and two-time Olympic champion .

Career

Kurlowitsch's first international competition was in 1983 when he took second place behind Anatoly Pyssarenko and ahead of Antonio Krastew with 450 kg (205 kg in snatch / 245 kg in jab) at the European and World Championships in Moscow, which were organized as one event occupied. Only the higher body weight placed him behind his compatriot Pyssarenko.

In 1984 he and Pyssarenko were arrested at Montreal's Mirabel Airport when customs officers searched their luggage and found anabolic steroids . The two were fined by the Canadian authorities and banned for life by the International Weightlifting Federation (IMF). However, Kurlowitsch was rehabilitated in 1987 and came back to the Soviet national team.

In the same year he won the World Championships in Ostrava with a new world record of 472.5 kg in a duel (212.5 kg / 260 kg) ahead of Leanid Taranenka with 467.5 kg. In his last shock attempt he failed because of the world record load of 266.0 kg, which he brought to high distances, but could not hold long enough to receive a signal from the referee to lower it. This overhead instability cost him a few important push attempts over the course of his career.

When the Bulgarians refused to allow their super heavyweight Krastew to start in the wake of the doping scandal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul , Kurlowitsch confirmed his role as favorite and won confidently with 462.5 kg (212.5 kg / 250.0 kg) ahead of Manfred Nerlinger with 430 , 0 kg and Martin Zawieja with 415.0 kg of gold.

He continued his winning streak at the European and World Championships in Athens in 1989 and won gold again with 460.0 kg (215.0 kg / 245.0 kg). Here, too, both events were held in one competition. As in 1987, Kurlowitsch tried his last shock attempt at a world record load. This time the load of 262.5 kg in addition to the 215.0 kg in the snatch would have meant a new world record of 477.5 kg, but once again his weakness overhead when fixing the load became apparent, and he got the attempt invalid. This would have officially made him the strongest lifter of all time, which Taranenka is currently still carrying at 475.0 kg (as of November 2009).

At the European Championships in 1990 in Aalborg, he increased again to 467.5 kg and was able to take first place in front of Nerlinger with 455.0 kg and Taranenka with 452.5 kg.

Also at the 1991 World Cup in Donaueschingen he was able to assert himself with 455.0 kg and relegated Nerlinger to second place with 425.0 kg.

Again Kurlowitsch came to the games in Barcelona as a favorite, but now starting for the United Team . With 450.0 kg in a duel, the runners-up Taranenka and Nerlinger had nothing to oppose him.

Kurlowitsch played his last World Cup in 1994 in Istanbul for Belarus. Here he took first place with 457.5 kg for the last time in front of the new Russian super heavyweight Tschemerkin with 452.5 kg and Stefan Botew with 435.0 kg.

In 1995, Kurlowitsch was convicted of doping again when he tested positive in a Bundesliga match with SSV Samswegen in Berlin. After the Belarusian federation stood up for him, the IMF pardoned him again, pointing out that national controls were irrelevant for the world federation. Kurlowitsch himself justified his positive test with the fact that the German association wanted to get him out of the way for the Olympic Games in order to give his two super heavyweights Manfred Nerlinger and Ronny Weller better chances.

In 1996 he took part in the Olympic Games again in Atlanta and finished fifth with a duel result of 425.0 kg, which was weak for him.

Others

• In 2006 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Weightlifting Federation .
• In 2008 Kurlovich was elected to the Belarusian parliament.
• Kurlowitsch set a total of 12 world records in his career.

Top performances

• Snatch: 215 kg in 1989 in Athens in the 110 kg class.
• Bump: 260 kg in 1987 in Ostrava in the 110 kg class.
• Duel: 472.5 kg in 1987 in Ostrava in the 110 kg class.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Olympic champion Kurlowitsch dies at 56. In: RP Online. April 7, 2018, accessed April 9, 2018 . 
2. ^ Video of the impact part of the 1989 World Championships with Kurlowitsch's decisive attempt on YouTube
3. ↑ The Neverending Story of the Muscle Mast. ANABOLIC SINNERS ALSO AT THE START IN ATLANTA / THE INTERNATIONAL WEIGHT LIFTER ASSOCIATION IS RUNNING A SINGLE COURSE. In: Berliner Zeitung. Berlin Online, accessed December 21, 2008 . 
4. ↑ Interview with Kurlowitsch on chidlovski.net
5. ↑ Aleksander Kurlovich Member of the Parliament of Belarus ( Memento from August 2, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )

Web links

• Aljaksandr Kurlowitsch in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Aljaksandr Kurlowitsch at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Profile of Aljaksandr Kurlowitsch in the lift-up project at chidlovski.net (English)
• Report of his death, in Russian