 Zhabotinsky in 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1938-01-28)28 January 1938 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 14 January 2016(2016-01-14) (aged 77) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 163 kg (359 lb) (1968) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Weightlifting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Leonid Ivanovich Zhabotinsky (Ukrainian:Леонiд Іванович Жаботинський; 28 January 1938 – 14 January 2016) was aSoviet weightlifter who set 19 world records in the superheavyweight class, and wongold medals at the1964 and1968 Olympic Games.[2][3]
Zhabotinsky was born on 28 January 1938 in a village inUspenka,Sumy Oblast, into aCossack family.[4] Although Ivan Filippovich, his father, was an athlete, Zhabotinsky stated in a 1967 interview that he took after one of his grandfathers, and neither of his parents had an outstanding physique.[3] Zhabotinsky spent his childhood years inZaporozhye. After graduating from the seven-year secondary school, he worked at theKharkov Tractor Plant and was coached by Mikhail Svetlichny at the local weightlifting club of theArmed Forces sports society.[3][4]
Zhabotinsky debuted at the Ukrainian SSR Championship in 1957, where he earned a bronze medal.[3] Later that year, Zhabotinsky entered the Kharkov Pedagogical Institute and studied there until 1964. He was theflag bearer for the Soviet Union during the opening ceremonies of the1968 Summer Olympics inMexico City, carrying the flag with one hand when the team marched in, when all the other flag bearers used two hands.[3] Between 1963 and 1974, Zhabotinsky set 19 world records in the superheavyweight class and won gold medals at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics.[5][3] He was a member of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union between 1965 and 1991.[citation needed]
In 1964, Zhabotinsky graduated from the Kharkiv Pedagogical Institute and in 1970 defended a PhD inpedagogy. After ending his sport career, he coached weightlifters at theSoviet Army and retired in 1991 as a colonel. In 1987–1991, he worked inMadagascar as a military consultant and weightlifting coach. After that, he became a pro-rector of the Moscow Institute of Business and Law, one of the first private higher education facilities in Russia.[2]
Zhabotinsky was married to Raisa and had two sons, Ruslan and Vilen, both of whom have competed in weightlifting.[6] He died on 14 January 2016, two weeks before his 78th birthday, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.[3][7]
Zhabotinsky wasArnold Schwarzenegger's teenage idol.[3]
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