Catalyst Athletics Forums - The Science of Winning According to Vassily Alexeyev

Here's a link to an article I enjoyed on Alexeyev (a man whose last name sees many spellings).
It's not an exhasutive piece by far but it gives an impression of the kind of work and atitude that formed the great champion.

Quote:

'They say that the strongest wins. But the strongest in what way? I remember, at the time of the championships in Lima, that Reding in training lifted record weights. He had acquired a terrific strength and huge muscles, but he lost to me even though he was physically stronger. Why? Serge and I had different ways of training. Others thought for him. He carried out the suggestions of his coach, Dupont. Roughly speaking, Reding took in 'the science of winning' though his ears. And this showed when he was on his own with the barbell. But, as for me, I thought for myself. Serge also lost because he wanted to beat me. That's all he thought about. He worried constantly and burned himself out before he even got to the platform . . .
For me the most important thing is to beat myself, to lift the barbell that up to this point I have not yet lifted. My rivals don't worry me very much. It's good when your competitors are strong and bad when they are weak. The same Reding, now dead, when he appeared without me, beat the records every time. And I treated him respectfully because he always kept me in shape. Now Enaldiev, Rachmanov, Plachkov, and Bonk do the same ...

The "Back" link at the bottom brings you to some nice galleries of him (where I found my sig quote) and some other lifters, including the PM fave Serge Redding.

And this one of Alexeyev is always a classic: