Valerios Leonidis

Valerios Leonidis
Nationality:	Soviet Union Greece
Society:	Vizantinos Athlitikos Omilos
Date of birth:	February 14, 1966
Place of birth:	Essentuki , Soviet Union
Size:	1.66 m
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 1 × 0 × World championships 1 × 2 × 0 × European championships 1 × 2 × 0 ×

Valerios Leonidis ( Greek Βαλέριος Λεωνίδης ; born February 14, 1966 in Essentuki , Soviet Union ) is a former Greek weightlifter .

biography

Valerios Leonidis comes from a Pontic Greek family. From 1982 to 1990 he was a member of the Soviet Union, where he became Soviet champion in 1986 and 1991. Most of the successes came with the move to the Greek team. In 1994 and 1995 Leonidis won silver at both the European and World Championships. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , Leonidis had an exciting featherweight duel with Turks Naim Süleymanoğlu for Olympic victory. Although the Greek set a nine world record with 187.5 kg in pushing, he was defeated by Süleymanoğlu and thus won the silver medal. A few months later he won the gold medal at the European Championships in Stavanger .

Web links

• Valerios Leonidis in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )