Weightlifter Yurik Vardanyan

The photograph shows one of the greatest legends of Armenian and Soviet weightlifting, Yurik Norayri Vardanyan. He was born in 1956 in Leninakan (Gyumri). He became Olympic champion, 5-time European and 7-time world champion, and set 43 world records. He was the first weightlifter to exceed 400 kilograms in the two-lift total at the Olympic Games. In 1994 his name was entered in the Weightlifting Hall of Fame. He died in 2018.

The picture combines 3 photographs: on the left Vardanyan as a young man with many medals on his chest, at the top lifting the barbell, and at the bottom a photograph of a man in a suit.