In Memoriam

Many people of American origin are aggrieved at the passing of Alekseev as well.  I do remember watching his Olympic competitions as a young person and the guy was a perfect combination of technique and muscle strength and a perfect example of the scientific approach to athletic training as entertained by soviet trainers at the time (1970's or so.)  The remarkable thing about his lifting was indeed the technique and he had the most deft clean, and probably dead lift as well, of many weightlifters at the time.

Alekseev, as I read about him, also raised things like strawberries at his dacha, and had a truly gentle image among Americans despite his athletic explosiveness that endeared him to people everywhere.  People such as the 1970's Russian and other Eastern Block athletes, as they became known in the West, showed a human side to the soviets, and at least in part were responsible for mood around 'glasnost' and so forth that came later.  They were Peacemakers inside the controlled and channeled forces that ruled Olympic and other international games at the time.  People like me, again, are very sorry he is gone, and I did not even know he was ill.  God bless you for this sympathetic and outstanding column on his life and legacy.  More people need to read about this.