The former weightlifter Andrei Chemerkin is dead, reports Russian Sport-Express. He became 53 years old.
Chemerkin won among other things four World Championship golds and two European Championship golds. The Russian also won Olympic Games gold in Atlanta 1996 and a bronze at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000.
Chemerkin's personal trainer, Vladimir Kniga, believes that the 53-year-old's death is about a blood clot.
Latest I spoke with Andrei was last night, then he was completely okay. Now he has been taken to the autopsy, after that everything will be clarified, says Kniga to the Russian news agency Tass, according to Sport-Express.
”A legendary man. We express our sincere condolences to Andrei's family and friends, we mourn with you”, writes the Russian weightlifting federation about the Olympic champion's death.
