Ivan Udodov

Ivan Udodov was 17-years-old when the Germans deported him in 1941 to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Four years later, when Soviet troops liberated the camp, Udodov was nearly dead from starvation, was not able to walk independently and weighed only about 30 kg. Udodov took up weightlifting in the fall of 1945 by doctor’s orders as a part of his recovery program and soon rose to be one of the top Soviet bantamweight weightlifters. In 1949 Udodov won his first Soviet championship medal, a silver in bantamweight. He turned his Soviet championships silver to gold in 1950 and would win the Soviet title two more times in bantamweight in 1951 and 1952. In 1952, Udodov set his first world record (98 kg in snatch) and went to his first international tournament, the 1952 Olympics, as a clear favorite to the gold medal. Udodov won gold at the 1952 Olympics and 1952 European Championships as well as at the 1953 World and European Championships. In 1953 he also set his second world record (320 kg in total). In 1954 Udodov switched to featherweight and set two more world records (350 kg in total and 111.5 kg in press), but was not as successful in international tournaments and the Soviet Championships as before. He won silvers at the 1954 and 1955 World and European Championships and bronze and silver at the 1954 and 1955 Soviet championships, losing to Rapael Chimishk'iani in all of those competitions. Udodov won his last Soviet title in 1956, but was not selected to the 1956 Soviet Olympic team due to injury and retired from sports. During and after his sporting career Udodov worked as a truck driver and later as a weightlifting coach in his hometown of Rostov-on-Don.