PISARENKO | Weightlifting's Most Iconic Athlete

Anatoly Pisarenko stands tall and looming as the most iconic weightlifter of the 20th century. Sure his impressive moustache is eye catching, but it was the nonchalance with which he set world records and stumbled into becoming the greatest weightlifter in the world that made his name stand the test of time...

PISARENKO SQUAT POSTER SOLD OUT

00:00 Who is Pisarenko?
01:56 Early training years
03:39 Pisarenko vs Alexeev
05:06 Pisarenko's International climb
07:46 1984 Olympics?
08:09 The greatest training cycle ever
09:55 Pisarenko's best performance
14:02 Drug scandal
15:00 Thoughts on PEDs
15:26 The end of an illustrious career

[LBNMKRS]

Pisarenko smoking a cig and drinking not tea but vodka between lifts is still the most badass moment in weightlifting.

[barath]

Pisarenko is still alive - Get an exclusive interview with him if you can find him!
And hurry, he ain't getting younger.
Would be so cool to see that!

[BuJammy]

I loved him for his honesty. At the world championships (84?) he was asked about steroids, and essentially said "You can have new world records every 18 months, or you can have no steroids. There is no way we can train like this and not use them". The stuff he said about Alexiev, about the Basque lifters, the fact that he never wanted to by a Weightlifter, but being a bodybuilder was not allowed at that time, all interesting stuff.

[NONO-hzvo]

When I got started in weightlifting I spent a lot of time reading the material that came out of the USSR from the 60s-90s and was always most impressed with people like Pisarenko. Him, Zakharevich, Vardanyan, Dimas, and of course the pocket Hercules were to me great because they were incredible athletes who were able to move so much weight without weighing a ton. Pisarenko could still do the splits whereas Lasha (who I also think is amazing) probably isn't even close. In almost any sport I think Pisarenko and the others like him would excel, kind of the original spirit of the Olympics. As much as I love seeing Lasha lift I am more impressed with guys like Pisarenko who could lift near as much yet still play a game of football(soccer) afterwards or hit up the slopes in some alpine skiing.

One day we may get a genetic freak like Pisarenko who is naturally closer to 140-150kg who sets us new records. Like a Usain Bolt or Giannis Antetokounmpo of their sports.

[DredFulProductions]

The moustache, the squat in boxers, the singlet with the nips out. Weightlifting had some style back then.

[vladimirepifanov]

In some interview he was telling that his potential was 300 in c&j and he had that as an ultimate goal. Amazing athlete

[goranACD]

This is hands down the best weightlifting video I ever saw in my life.

[TomLaios]

The Man. To old dudes like me, I started lifting at the height of Pisarenko's fame, 1983, he was simply the best.

[rpack]

Hard to wrap my mind around a 260 jerk double, 270 clean & jerk, 280 clean @ 123. To be a fly on the wall for that training cycle….

[OLV_Music]

Sad that after all the time, effort and life into being *the* top sportsman, he only stood a small chance to represent his country (then USSR) at the Olympics, which is obviously quite a big deal compared to the many world championships he won - even more sad when he himself realised that at the end by saying it wasn’t worth it, that must have been hard for him to admit.

[atsekjoker]

have you ever seen Pisarenko and Don Fry in the same room? Me neither

[memo]

Bruh ain’t no way he was 22 during these clips. Dude looks like he came straight out of a gears of war game and has 20 years of combat experience

[audriulis]

The best and most honest weighlifter ever

[HIMCULES]

Karelin had Pisarenko's poster on his wall.

[maksyms.]

In one interview, Pisarenko said his weak points were his legs, which eventually made him quit his career. He got an injury to the hit joints a little bit late when he lifted in snatch 210 and in clean and jerk 270 in a training. Before a competition, he had the flu but decided to participate in it. It was, I guess, in 1987 when he came back to sports after being banned for 2 years. He wanted to prove that he was the best and, not being fully recovered from disease, decided to lift big weights. He was disappointed that the Soviet authorities didn't support him, and they showed by his example that the USSR was against anabolic steroids. But Pisarenko said it was the Soviet system: doctors and trainers who made Soviet athletes use them. And the Canadian customs detected not only Pisarenko and Kurlovish with cases filled with drugs for sale, who were Ukrainian and Belarusian, but also Aleksandr Gunyashev, who was Russian and not banned by the Soviet regime. Pisarenko said that his strongest point was his back; he didn't know his limits in the exercises for his back and tried to change the technique just to use it to the maximum on his strongest side.
Forgot to mention that in that interview, Anatoliy said he was a guy who showed his best results not in the trainings but in the competitions, and that's why he thought that 500 kg in both movements were real and achievable for him. When he retired, he was about 28 years old, which is a baby age for a heavyweight lifter, and he still thinks that he didn't show his full potential.

[artkazyak]

He was a badass lifter i think the best ever at 270lbs clean and jerk over 580lbs in the early 1980s amazing and just missed 616lbs unreal hats off to him

[markchurch]

Pisarenko is my all time favorite weightlifter

[hobowithashotgun]

No wonder Don Frye is such a badass, his dad is incredible!

[tatache]

This guy was the absolute beast. I would have liked to see him now, and not it the 80s!

[easygamingwwiigamingchanne]

Pisarenko is from Kyiv, Ukraine. He has his own tea brand. At one point controlled about 10% of tea market in Ukraine.