Vasily Alekseyev Is Pressing Daisy Now...

[Asherdan]

Alekseyev was a big USSR symbol of course but he meant something else to me. Here was thus ungainly funky ass man, most would call him ugly as a mud fence, and he would come out with this supreme confidence and do amazing grunting screaming things. Then he would thrust his arms in the air while staring at the conquered weight and stalk off the platform.

Yeah, he was the symbol of the Russian Bear but he taught me something...pretty is bullshit. You didn't have to have the QB smile, the perfect complexion and the damn dimple. You could, through will and effort, do the amazing.

To an ungainly teen just starting to exert himself, who got called mongo or spaz, Vasily Alekseyev was a beacon. Even if you looked like that damn bear you represented, with will would come accomplishment and with that accomplishment would come respect. But you wouldn't need that respect from others, you would do your thing and have enough respect for your ownself.

“For some performers, there is a psychological problem,” he told Sports Illustrated. “As the weight is greater, the more the mind makes the weight seem to be. But we are from the U.S.S.R., and such a psychological situation is no problem. To successfully lift the weight cannot be avoided. I experience the tortures and the celebration. But I lift as well as I lift because it cannot be avoided.”

Get out of your own head. It cannot be avoided.

Thanks, Vasily.

[AugustWest]

Oh hells yes I remember Alekseyev.  Big dude set 80 world records!

RIP Strongman.

[Nabubrush]

Alekseyev was a big USSR symbol of course but he meant something else to me. Here was thus ungainly funky ass man, most would call him ugly as a mud fence, and he would come out with this supreme confidence and do amazing grunting screaming things. Then he would thrust his arms in the air while staring at the conquered weight and stalk off the platform.

Yeah, he was the symbol of the Russian Bear but he taught me something...pretty is bullshit. You didn't have to have the QB smile, the perfect complexion and the damn dimple. You could, through will and effort, do the amazing.

To an ungainly teen just starting to exert himself, who got called mongo or spaz, Vasily Alekseyev was a beacon. Even if you looked like that damn bear you represented, with will would come accomplishment and with that accomplishment would come respect. But you wouldn't need that respect from others, you would do your thing and have enough respect for your ownself.

So, he taught you to love yourself? That's kind of heartwarming.

[Carlos del Vaca]

So, he taught you to love yourself? That's kind of heartwarming.

That's the greatest love of all. Or so I've been told.

[Nabubrush]

Ash, if by chance that special place that you've been dreaming of leads you to a lonely place find your strength in love.

[jaydub]

I couldn't place the name initially, but the moment Ash painted the picture I instantly saw him in my mind's eye.  Recently I've come to appreciate the athleticism required for Olympic lifts as I've been training in them a little.  The amount of coordination and split second timing required is daunting enough with a fraction of my bodyweight on the bar.  The ability of Alekseyev was astonishing.

[pmcd9]

I remember that guy.  fuck*ng amazing. They hardly show weight lifting on the Olympics anymore unless you have cable, I guess.

[jaydub]

I saw a little during the Beijing games, mostly memorable for the (Turkish?  Ajerbaijani?) dude who dislocated his elbow on a snatch.

[littlefallsmets]

Wow, that must've been... one amazing snatch.

[Nabubrush]

Wow, that must've been... one amazing snatch.

Doin' her Kegels.

[jaydub]

I'm happy tossing you blokes softballs all day.