Leanid Taranenka

Leanid Taranenka
Taranenka (center) at the award ceremony in Moscow in 1980
Nationality:	USSR Belarus
Date of birth:	June 13, 1956
Place of birth:	Malaryta
Medal table

Leanid Arkadsjewitsch Taranenka ( Belarusian Леанід Аркадзьевіч Тараненка , Russian Леонид Аркадьевич Тараненко , Leonid Arkadievich Taranenko * 13. June 1956 in Malaryta , Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic , Soviet Union ) is a former Soviet-Belarusian weightlifter and record holder kg in pushing 266 and vies with 475 kg.

Athletic career

Taranenka achieved his first major success at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow when he won gold in the class up to 110 kg with a duel result of 422.5 kg. In the same year he also won the European and World Championships.

A participation in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and thus a possible second Olympic gold was denied him due to the Soviet Olympic boycott in 1984. Taranenka won at the Games of Friendship , the Soviet substitute games, the class up to 110 kg with a duel record of 442.5 kg, with which he exceeded the Olympic champion of the same year, Norberto Oberburger , by 52.5 kg.

After that, Taranenka switched to the super heavyweight (110+ kg) despite his actually too small body size. On November 26, 1988 in Canberra, Australia, with a competition weight of 140 kg, he set an unbeaten record of 266 kg in pushing and a record of 475 kg in duels, which was only beaten in 2018. Although these world records are no longer valid due to the restructuring of the weight classes, the 266 kg in jerks remain the heaviest load brought to the high distance to this day.

In 1992 Taranenka started at the age of 36 for the Commonwealth of Independent States at the Olympic Games in Barcelona and won silver in the super heavyweight division with a duel of 425 kg.

In 1996, the now 40-year-old Taranenka won the European Championship for the fourth time and even planned to take part in the Olympic Games in Atlanta . However, his age and numerous injuries prevented his third participation in the Olympics.

Taranenka's other titles include the 1990 World Cup and the 1988 and 1991 European Championships.

Career as a coach

After his active time, Taranenka trained, among other things, the Indian women's national team in weightlifting. Under his direction, Karnam Malleswari won bronze at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney . In August 2004, however, he was released after two of his athletes were found doping .

Personal best

• Snatch: 210.0 kg in Canberra on November 26, 1988.
• Push: 266.0 kg in Canberra on November 26, 1988.
• Combat: 475.0 kg in Canberra on November 26, 1988.

Web links

Commons : Leonid Taranenko  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Leanid Taranenka in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait on chidlovski.net
• Interview on chidlovski.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. Leonid Taranenko . In: Internationales Sportarchiv 14/2007 from April 7, 2007.
2. ↑ India sack weightlifting coaches http://www.rediff.com/sports/2004/aug/24oly-lift.htm (accessed December 17, 2008).