VOROBYEV, ARKADY

born Oct. 3, 1924, Mordovo, Tambov oblast, Russia, U.S.S.R. in full Arkady Nikitich Vorobyev, Vorobyev also spelled Vorobev Soviet weight lifter who won two Olympic gold medals and was the first Soviet light-heavyweight lifter to win the world championship. While stationed at Odessa in the Soviet army, Vorobyev worked as a deep-sea diver and began weight training. As a light-heavyweight lifter at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Fin., he attempted to jerk a world record 170 kg (375 pounds); after controversy over whether he would be charged with an official attempt after an initial drop and whether he had successfully lifted the weight on a second attempt, he had to settle for a bronze medal. Vorobyev achieved his greatest success as a middle heavyweight. At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne he won his first gold medal, setting a world record in the press and breaking his own world record with a lift of 462.5 kg (1,020 pounds). His greatest effort came in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he broke another of his own world records with a total lift of 472.5 kg (1,042 pounds). A 10-time champion of the Soviet Union, he was world champion in 1953-55 and 1957-58. Vorobyev, a medical doctor, later wrote books on weight lifting and coached the Soviet team.