Aleksandr Kurynov

Aleksandr Kurynov

Aleksandr Kurynov at the 1960 Olympics
Personal information
Born	8 July 1934 Gus-Khrustalny, Russia
Died	30 November 1973 (aged 39) Kazan, Russia
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
Sport	Weightlifting
Club	Burevestnik Kazan
Medal record Representing the  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1960 Rome -75 kg World Weightlifting Championships 1961 Austria -75 kg 1962 Budapest -75 kg 1963 Stockholm -75 kg 1965 Tehran -75 kg

Aleksandr Pavlovich Kurynov (Russian: Александр Павлович Курынов, 8 July 1934 – 30 November 1973) was a Russian weightlifter. He won a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics and three world titles in 1961–1963. He also set 15 world records between 1958 and 1964: two in the press, four in the snatch, four in the clean and jerk, and five in the total.^[1][2]

Kurynov started training in weightlifting in 1954 while studying at the Kazan Aviation Institute. In 1958 and 1959 he finished second at the national championships and was included to the national team. Between 1958 and 1967 Kurynov won only one national title, in 1960, yet he excelled internationally in the 1960s, winning four consecutive European championships in 1960–1964, three consecutive world titles in 1961–1963 and an Olympic gold in 1960. He had a good chance for an Olympic medal in 1964, but was expelled from the Olympic team by the head coach Arkady Vorobyov, who did not approve of Kurynov's training methods.^[1]

Kurynov retired shortly after finishing third at the 1967 national championships, and then briefly worked as a weightlifting coach. Earlier in 1963 he graduated from the Kazan Aviation Institute, and after 1971 worked as an engineer with the Kazan Research Institute of Computer Science. He suddenly died of a kidney failure in 1973, aged 39. Since 1974 a memorial tournament is being held in Kazan in his honor.^[1]

References