David Rigert was a Soviet weightlifter and coach, one of the most prolific record-breakers in the sport’s history. He won Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Games in the 90 kg class, was six times world champion and nine times European champion, and set 63 world records. He later coached the Soviet and Russian national teams and was inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame in 1999. He died on 26 October 2026, aged 79.

Born on 12 March 1947 in Nagornoye in Kazakhstan’s Kokchetav region into a family of Russian Germans, he took up weightlifting during army service and trained in Shakhty under Rudolf Plyukfelder.