The passing away on November 25 of Vasily Alekseyev, a legendary figure in competitive weightlifting, marks yet another poignant closure for the former Soviet Union.
Alekseyev, who reportedly died of heart failure at the age of 69 in a Munich clinic, epitomized the achievements as well as the failures of a rigid system designed to crank out champions and to mercilessly weed out those deemed unfit to pass the grade.