Kettlebell lifting and athletic gymnastics

The First USSR Kettlebell Lifting Championship

Yu. A. Sandalov, State Coach in Weightlifting

English summary of Tyazhelaya Atletika. Ezhegodnik 1986 (Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1986), pp. 40–43: the text is paraphrased, not translated; data tables are given in full with English labels; figures are the original images.

The first USSR kettlebell lifting championship took place on 23–24 November 1985 at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Lipetsk. Over two days 80 lifters from eight Union republics (the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belorussia, Lithuania, Armenia, Estonia, Kirghizia and Uzbekistan) and from Moscow and Leningrad competed for titles in the two-kettlebell jerk, the snatch and the all-round total.

The sport suits both the young (10 boys under 18 took part) and men over forty, and father and son can compete together, as the Moshchenkovs of Perm did. The 15-year-old son, in the class up to 80 kg, was too nervous and finished only 14th; his father, in the next class up, became USSR champion, winning the tightest contest by one point from S. Sakhno.

Until 1985 organisations cultivating the sport each had their own rules and classification. Judging, especially of the jerk, proved problematic: although the USSR Sports Committee held seminars for judges in Moscow in September and Lipetsk in November and chose the 10 best for the championship, errors occurred, some by judges and some by lifters, who skilfully hid tricks that eased the exercises. The rules and judges’ training need improvement, the chief referee’s role should be raised and the jury’s duties defined more clearly.

To make contests more dynamic and spectacular, kettlebell weights could rise with weight class, exercise time could be limited and music introduced; clothing and palm pads need designing. These questions fall to the kettlebell commission of the USSR Weightlifting Federation.

All-Union bests were set in nearly every class, and the winners’ results will be the starting standards for USSR records at the 1986 championship. For the first time 10 lifters met the Master of Sport standards; seven more showed master-level results but, not being medallists, will not receive the title. Some lifters, especially from Central Asia and Armenia, arrived poorly prepared, the sport being underdeveloped there, but learned from leading coaches. It was a good school for all involved. The results of the six strongest in each class follow.

Table 1. Results of the first USSR kettlebell lifting championship

Table 1 (continued)

As printed; some entries do not add up (for example, the snatch columns of S. Ovsyankin, V. Tsepelev and S. Karpov and the snatch points of I. Nemtsev).