Famous Ukrainian heavyweight who set an eternal world record dies

Adam Hnatov, a famous Ukrainian weightlifter and holder of 14 world records, died in Lviv on Thursday, 20 July. The former athlete, who set an unbeaten bench press record, was 78 years old.

This was reported on its Facebook page by the Lviv Oblast Branch of the National Olympic Committee (NOC). "At the age of 79, the legendary Lviv heavyweight, 14-time world record holder, 1972 European vice-champion, 1971 USSR champion Adam Hnatov passed away. The Olympic family of Lviv region expresses its sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Adam Hnatov. May he rest in peace!" - the statement reads.

Hnatov was born into a Polish family, but he always represented the Ukrainian SSR, where he became a champion 10 times. On the eve of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, he won the pre-Olympic week.

After the Games in Germany, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) removed the bench press from the competition programme. Before that, Gnatov had set a world record by lifting a 120.5kg weight, which will remain unbroken.

The IWF was forced to take a radical step because of the difficulties in assessing the technique of the exercise. In particular, in 1956, Bob Hoffman, the coach of the US Olympic weightlifting team, accused the referees of being pro-Soviet and biased against the Americans.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Bohdan Hreshchak, the Ukrainian football champion and former Karpaty player, died in Lviv.

Only verified information is available in our Obozrevatel Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!