Belarusian weightlifter Andrei Rybakov has long been considered a trendsetter in the weight category up to 85 kg in his sport. He has a number of world records on his account, some of them have not been beaten so far. A real champion, Andrey Rybakov always gave his best on the platform, not giving his opponents the slightest chance in his best years. The glorious career of the Belarusian weightlifter was spoiled only by an ugly doping story, due to which he was deprived of the Olympic silver medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Bogatyr from Mogilev
Andrey Anatolyevich Rybakov was born in 1982 in the glorious Belarusian city of Mogilev. The boy grew up in an ordinary family, shared with the neighbor boys their innocent fun and hobbies. At a certain point, an excess of strength demanded a way out, and he decided to try his hand at sports. Being a he althy strong guy, Andrei reasonably reasoned that his strength would be most effective in weightlifting.
So in 1994 he came to the weightlifting hall of the Spartak society in the city of Mogilev. The first coach in the biography of Andrei Rybakov, Vasily Balakhonov, still remembers the boy's first visit to him for training. According to himAccording to him, he successfully passed the test with light weight exercises, he did not even need strength-enhancing classes from general physical training.
Like many teenagers of his age, Andrey Rybakov was at first rather frivolous about sports training. There were many temptations outside the gym, he could not go to classes for a day, a week, but he always came back. Wise with experience, Vasily Balakhonov endured these violations of discipline and soon waited for a responsible attitude to work from his pupil. A young native of Mogilev got involved in training and began to diligently lift iron.
Junior period
In the sports biography of Andrei Anatolyevich Rybakov there were many important tournaments, including many world championships and two Olympics. However, the ordinary regional competitions that took place in Mogilev in the distant nineties, he can rightly consider the most important in his life.
This was the first start of the young weightlifter, and Andrey immediately took second place, ahead of more experienced guys. Here he was noticed by the honored coach of the republic Vasily Goncharov, who, by the way, was the first mentor for Vasily Balakhonov. He confirmed the assumptions of the former teacher about the huge potential of his pupil and advised to work with him more closely.
The talented junior was immediately assigned to the Olympic reserve school, where he began to prepare for future great achievements. The victory was not long in coming, in 2001 Andrey Rybakov wonmedal at the World Junior Championships in Athens.
Acceleration of the Belarusian heavyweight
For a long time, a native of Mogilev was considered a narrow specialist in snatch. The athlete showed the best results in this type of exercise, consistently failing his attempts in the clean and jerk.
He could not properly take the heavy projectile on his chest and push it up, fixing it in the necessary way.
However, due to perfectly perfected technique, Andrey Rybakov was invincible in the snatch, consistently winning small gold medals in major tournaments. In 2002, the Belarusian became the world champion in snatch, and a year later he won a small gold medal at the continental championship.
Greek barrier
The 2004 Olympics in Athens was of particular importance for the Mogilev weightlifter, for which he prepared with particular care. At the pre-Olympic competitions, he was haunted by constant failures; at three tournaments in a row, Andrei frustrated all his attempts. The turning point came at the National Cup, where he performed quite well.
This gave confidence to the Belarusian athlete at the Olympic Games, where he performed brilliantly. At one point, he came very close to setting a world record in the snatch. However, the weight of 183 kg remained unconquered, as the last seconds for the attempt expired. However, the final result was positive for the Belarusian, who won the Olympic silver medal. After this, things went smoothly for Rybakov, and hebegan to progress every year.
Lord of Iron
The Olympic medal spurred Andrey on, and he began to work hard on his imperfect second exercise, lifting ten tons of iron over his head in one workout. The results of hard work were not long in coming, gradually Andrey became the strongest weightlifter in the Old World.
The peak of the Belarusian athlete's career was in 2006-2007. Then he unconditionally dominated the world stage, invariably winning in biathlon. He won the first world championship in Santo Domingo in 2006, declaring himself as a favorite for the upcoming Olympics.
Pre-Olympic dominance
The beginning of the next season was a little crumpled due to a cold infection, Andrey Rybakov was forced to miss the European Championship to restore his he alth. The return of the Mogilev hero turned out to be extremely spectacular. At the 2007 World Championships, he effortlessly beat all his rivals, setting a continental record along the way.
The level of intrigue that evening is evidenced by the fact that Andrey approached his first move in the 180 kg snatch after his opponents had already dropped out on the previous scales. Having easily coped with the first attempt, he ordered a weight of 185 kg. Andrey's jerk made his coaches worry, the bar treacherously swayed and almost collapsed, but he managed to correct the movement of the projectile in time.
Mentors sensed that their pupil is capable of more, and ordered a weight of 187 kg. Surprisingly, thisAndrei performed the attempt flawlessly, easily and skillfully breaking the world record in the snatch. This achievement of Rybakov has not been surpassed by any other weightlifter. Thus, before the final exercise, Andrey's advantage over his rivals was as much as 15 kg.
After such an enchanting performance in the snatch, it was enough for him to push 190 kg, but the Belarusian was not content with little and conquered the bar of 206 kg. The restless Andrey Rybakov tried to break the world record in biathlon, but 209 kg that day did not obey him.
Silver Beijing
A year before the Beijing Olympics, Andrei warned his fans that it might be worth waiting for a strong Chinese weightlifter to appear before the main tournament of the four-year period. His predictions were confirmed one hundred percent.
The final of the Olympic tournament among weightlifters in weight up to 85 turned out to be extremely dramatic. The French athlete lost consciousness, the Turkish athlete was injured and dropped out of the competition, the Armenian athlete failed to cope with his nerves and failed. Gold was played by Andrei Rybakov and Chinese Yong Liu, the host of the tournament.
In the snatch, the Belarusian overcame 185 kg, almost repeating his world record, but before the final exercise, his advantage over Liu was only five kg. He did not let his native audience down and took his weight, after which the stands exploded with delight. To get around the Chinese, Andrey Rybakov ordered 209 kg. He successfully pushed this weight, beating his personal achievement in this exercise, and along the way set a world record for the sum of two events (394 kg).
The Chinese was 280 g lighter than the Belarusian athlete, so if the results were equal, he was ahead of his opponent. To do this, Liu had to push 214 kg. The first attempt was unsuccessful, but the second movement was successful, and Andrei Rybakov was left with a silver medal. The athlete himself was pleased with this result, because that evening he broke the world record.
Doping scandal
The end of the glorious career of the Belarusian weightlifter was spoiled by a doping scandal. At one of the tournaments in 2016, he passed a doping test, which gave a positive result. The unfortunate meldonium was found in the blood of Andrey Rybakov, which has been banned for use since January 1, 2016. He was suspended from participation in all tournaments, after which he never returned to the big sport.
