Viktors Ščerbatihs (born 6 October 1974 in Dobele) is a former

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

, politician and a three-time Olympian for his native country. He is 181 cm tall. In the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, he won the silver medal in the +105 kg weight category, with the total result of 455 kg (205 kg in snatch and 250 kg in

clean and jerk The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without rest ...

). He has also won three bronze medals in the World Championships (in 1997, 1998 and 2003), gold in 2007, and several medals in the European Championships (bronze in 1997, 1999 and 2000, gold in 2001, silver in 2004, and four consecutive gold medals in 2005–2008). He started his political career with Latvian Farmers' Union in 2006 and was elected to parliament. He became world champion in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

he won the bronze medal in the +105 kg category, with a total of 448 kg.

Notes and references

Viktors Ščerbatihs at Database Weightlifting
(Retrieved on December 19, 2009). 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Dobele Latvian Farmers' Union politicians Deputies of the 9th Saeima Latvian male weightlifters Olympic weightlifters for Latvia Latvian strength athletes Weightlifters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Latvia Olympic bronze medalists for Latvia Latvian sportspeople in doping cases Olympic medalists in weightlifting Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists 21st-century Latvian sportsmen {{Latvia-weightlifting-bio-stub