Memorial Page for Rudolf Wladimirowitsch Plukfelder

Rudolf Vladimirovich Plukfelder (born 6 September 1928 in Novoorlovka, Ukrainian SSR; died 24 April 2026 in Zierenberg, Hesse) was a Soviet weightlifter and coach. His name is often rendered internationally as Rudolf Plyukfelder. As an athlete he won Olympic gold in the light-heavyweight class in Tokyo in 1964. As a coach he shaped the weightlifting school in Shakhty and worked with several athletes who later won Olympic gold and world titles.

Origins, war and early work

Plukfelder was born into an ethnic German family in Ukraine. After Germany's attack on the Soviet Union, his family was deported to Siberia; his father and older brother were executed in 1941. At 14, Plukfelder began working in the coal mines near Kiselyovsk. Sport first took place alongside work: he practised athletics and wrestling and won regional wrestling competitions in 1948 and 1949.

From the mine to weightlifting

In 1950 Plukfelder took up weightlifting. There was no specialised coach in his region, so for years he developed largely on his own. By the mid-1950s he was placing at Soviet championships, and from 1958 to 1963 he won the Soviet light-heavyweight title. Internationally he won world titles in 1959, 1961 and 1964, and European titles from 1959 to 1961.

Tokyo 1964

At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Plukfelder competed for the Soviet Union in the class up to 82.5 kilograms. On 16 October 1964 he won gold with a total of 475.0 kilograms in the Olympic three-lift competition, ahead of Hungary's Géza Tóth and Győző Veres. For Plukfelder, this victory was the peak of his competitive career; soon afterwards he ended his time as an athlete.

Coach in Shakhty

After finishing his sporting career, Plukfelder worked as a weightlifting coach in Shakhty in Rostov Oblast. Under his direction a school developed that produced several Soviet elite lifters. His pupils included Aleksey Vakhonin, Vasily Alekseyev, David Rigert, Nikolay Kolesnikov, Aleksandr Voronin and Viktor Tregubov. Russian sports databases name six Olympic gold medallists and seven world title winners from that school.

Later years in Germany

In the early 1990s Plukfelder moved to Germany with his family and lived in the Kassel area. In weightlifting, his name remained linked with two things: the late Olympic victory of an athlete who came to the sport at 22, and the coaching work in Shakhty. Rudolf Plukfelder died in Zierenberg on 24 April 2026. He was 97 years old.