Dmitry Berestov is one of Russia’s most celebrated weightlifters of the last few decades, and his 2004 Olympic gold in the uber-competitive 105 kilo weight class is still a memorable performance. (For reference, he snatched 195 kilos and clean and jerked 230 on his way to the gold.)
Berestov has competed off an on in weightlifting since then, but he’s never quite had a full-blown comeback in the sport. (Though he has posted some impressive lifts in training well into his 30s.) Now, it looks like the Russian athlete/coach/seminar teacher is trying his hand at a different strength sport: Strongman.
Recently, Berestov traveled to Varanasi, India for the WSF World Cup in Strongman. As evidenced by the above video, he’s still very new to the sport, and the movements will take some time for him to master. It appears he’s training under Mikhail Shivlyakov, a Russian pro strongman — so hopefully Berestov has the tools and teachers to make a run at success.
We’re guessing Berestov will probably stay in a lighter weight class as opposed to going up against one of the world’s log-lifting giants. After all, the world’s top strongmen are pretty massive, and while he’s listed at between 5’10” and 6’1″ depending on the source, Berestov would appear practically diminutive compared to some of his potential superheavy competitors.
For more of Berestov, check out the video below of his 2004 Olympic victory. Quick trivia note: Joining him in that sessions is Matthias Steiner, who would move up a weight class by 2008 on his way to winning the superheavyweight gold medal in Beijing. In the video below, the German/Austrian champ is comparatively svelte!
