Dinko "Dean" Lukin, OAM (born 26 May 1960) is a retired

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

from Australia. Lukin won the gold medal in the Super Heavyweight category at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

, held in Los Angeles. He carried the Australian flag during the closing ceremony of the 1984 games, and remains Australia's only Olympic gold medalist for weightlifting. He also saw success in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, winning gold medals in the super heavyweight division of the 1982 Brisbane games and the 1986 Edinburgh games. Lukin was born in Sydney, but his family moved to the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n town of

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...

when he was 5 years old. Lukin was a

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max len ...

fisherman who shot to fame as a weightlifter in the 1980s, then returned to run the family fishery business. In 2000, a portrait of him was hung in the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor ...

called ''Strongest Man of the Games'', painted by David Bromley. In a press conference following his 1984 Los Angeles Olympics gold medal, Lukin reportedly told assembled journalists that instead of focusing upon his victory, they should assemble for the disabled games and show those competitors as much time and respect as they had shown him. This was because their achievements were "far greater than mine." In a bid to get healthier during the late 1980s, Lukin went on a diet and lost a lot of the weight that made him one of the top Super Heavyweight weightlifters in the world, claiming that his waist was now the size that his upper thighs were during the 1984 Olympic Games. Lukin was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

in 1985.

References

External links

Lukin behind $40m Port Lincoln planAn in depth look at Dean Lukin - South Australian Weightlifting Association
*http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/fishing-wharf-in-100m-port-plan/story-e6frea6u-1226213180915 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lukin, Dean 1960 births Living people Australian male weightlifters Olympic weightlifters of Australia Weightlifters at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees People from Port Lincoln Australian people of Croatian descent Olympic medalists in weightlifting Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting Weightlifters at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Weightlifters at the 1986 Commonwealth Games 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people