Fyodor Bogdanovsky

Fyodor Bogdanovsky took up weightlifting in 1948 and soon rose to be one of the best middleweight weightlifters in the world. He was, however, always under the shadow of two great American weightlifters, Pete George and Tommy Kono, whom he managed to beat only once in head-to-head competition. This victory was probably the most important of his career, as it came at the 1956 Olympic Games. Bogdanovsky never won the World title, finishing second behind either George or Kono five times between 1954 and 1959, but he did win four European titles (1954, 1955, 1958, 1959). Bogdanovsky also won four Soviet titles in a row (1956-59), while taking silver in 1954, 1955 and 1960. In 1961 he moved up to light-heavyweight, but was not as successful, winning only Soviet championship silvers in 1961 and 1962 and bronze in 1963. During his career Bogdanovsky set 15 middleweight world records: eight in the press and seven in the total. After finishing his sporting career in 1963 Bogdanovsky worked as a weightlifting coach in his native Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). In the 1970s he also worked as coach of the Soviet national weightlifting team.