Sultanbay Rakhmanov

Born in Uzbekistan to an Uzbek father and Ukrainian mother, Sultanbay Rakhmanov’s family moved to Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine in 1966, where he also took up weightlifting. During his career Rakhmanov was always under the shadow of another Soviet super-heavyweight, the great Vasily Alekseyev. Rakhmanov won all his titles in Alekseyev’s absence, except the 1980 Olympic title, where Alekseyev was present, but failed on all his snatch attempts. In addition to his 1980 Olympic title, Rakhmanov was World Champion in 1979 and 1980 and European Champion in 1980. He also took silver at the 1978 World Championships. Domestically, Rakhmanov was the Soviet champion in 1978, 1979 and 1981, while taking bronze in 1976. During his career Rakhmanov set two super-heavyweight snatch world records.

After his retirement in 1982 Rakhmanov was engaged in charitable work for many years. For years he was the president of the Ukrainian branch of the International Association of Disabled Sports Veterans and, in 2000, he was selected as President of the International Association of Disabled Sports Veterans, a post which he held until his untimely death from a heart attack in 2003. Rakhmanov was also the honorary president of Ukrainian Aikido Federation.