Hellenic Weightlifting Federation
He was born in Esentouki, Russia on February 14, 1966. He returned to his roots in December 1991. He is 1.66m tall, and he belongs to the VAO Club in Thessaloniki. He won the silver medal in Atlanta in 1996 in the 64-kilo category; whereas, 4 years before he was the 5th Olympic Champion achieving the same record as the bronze winner who was lighter in weight. He began his athletic career in 1977 in gymnastics. He was a member of the National Weightlifting Team in the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1990. In 1994 he was voted athlete of the year in the Greek sports journalistsí referendum. He graduated in the field of Pharmacy and is a Lieutenant in the Greek Navy. He is married to Monica from Czech Republic and they have two sons, Victor (1996) and Patrick (1998).