Valerios Leonidis (; born 14 February 1966) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

former Olympic medalist

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

and current weightlifting trainer. He has won

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

silver medal at 1996 Atlanta Olympic games in 64 kg division. Also two silver and one bronze

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

medals. He has competed in different

weight class Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including Rowing (sport), rowing, Weightlifting#Weightlifting sports, weight lifting, and especi ...

es from 60 kg to 69 kg. His rivalry with world-record holder

Naim Süleymanoğlu Naim Süleymanoğlu (; 23 January 1967 – 18 November 2017) was a Bulgarian Turks, Turkish Olympic weightlifting, Olympic weightlifter. He was a seven-time World Weightlifting Championships, World Weightlifting champion and a three-time Lis ...

in the men's 64 kg was a very popular part of the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, in which he won the silver medal. Leonidis was born in

Yessentuki Yessentuki ( rus, Ессентуки́, p=jɪsɪntʊˈkʲiˑ) is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located in the shadow of Mount Elbrus at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. The city serves as a railway station in the Mineralnye Vody— Kisl ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, to a

Pontic Greek Pontic Greek (, ; or ''Romeika'') is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, and the Eastern Turkish and Caucasus region. An endangered Greek language variety ...

family. He was a member of the national weightlifting team of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

from 1982 to 1990 and he moved to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in 1991. He was named the 1994 Greek Male Athlete of the Year.

References

External links

* * * * * 1966 births Living people People from Yessentuki Soviet male weightlifters Greek male weightlifters Weightlifters at the 1992 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in weightlifting Olympic weightlifters for Greece Olympic silver medalists for Greece Weightlifting coaches Pontic Greeks European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists 20th-century Greek sportsmen {{Greece-weightlifting-bio-stub