585 lbs Clean and Jerk
Leonid Taranenko
Olympic weightlifter
Born 1956 in Soviet Union.
6′, 321 pounds
Leonid Taranenko singlehandly accomplished the most amazing and unbelievable feat of strength in history. Leonid Taranenko clean and jerked 585.2 pounds (266 kg) in 1988. A super human feat who hasn’t been equaled to this date. But unfortunately his world record no longer stand since all the old records were annulled after the restructuration of weight classes by the International Weightlifting Federation. Gross!?!
In fact, deadlifting six plates is a feat of strength. Just having the grip strength to hold this bar overhand is a tremendous feat. Now, imagine lifting this monstruous weighty bar from the floor to overhead!?! Unbelievable!!
It took 16 years to come close of this untouchable, unbreakable 585 lbs Clean and Jerk record. The closest you can get is the 580 lbs (263 kg) Clean and Jerk (official world record) of “The Iranian Hercules” Hossein Rezazadeh performed at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Taranenko world record was stole away from him!!! Sad…
Forget the stupid weight classes changes, recognized or not, to this date, Leonid Taranenko will forever be known as the man who lifted the highest weight from the ground to overhead, period.