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Name : Ritvars Suharevs
Location : Latvia
Weight Category : - 81kg
Age: 21
Snatch : 164kg
Clean & Jerk : 200kg
Ritvars Suharevs is an incredibly commited athlete, dedicating his life to his sport. His amount of training and his lifestyle are truly commendable, with it paying off in some huge results for Ritvars! He has competed on an international level since 2012 with his first big win at the 2014 Youth European Championships when he was only 15 years old (-62kg), scoring a gold medal! He won again in 2015 (-69kg), and again in 2016 (-77kg). He took a very impressive win of all 3 gold medals in the -77kg category at the 2018 World Junior Championships too, coming out 10kg above the second place total! Last year Ritvars again took gold in the -81kg category at the 2019 World Juniors.
Ritvars has also competed now a number of times outside of his age group at senior championships, noteably the 2019 European Champs where he scored a snatch Gold medal and overall Bronze in the -81kg group. He is undeniably an impressive athlete, and amazing to watch compete. He has some SERIOUS strength too, check out some of his heavy back squats in the video below (this isn't even his max!).
Ritvars trains in the small Latvian town of Dobele with Coach Eduards Andrushkevich, who has worked with other high level Latvian weightlifters including Rebeka Koha & Viktors Scerbaiths.
We had the pleasure of chatting with Ritvars about his weightlifting career, read our interview below!
CS: What do you enjoy most about the sport of weightlifting?
Ritvars: The power!! I feel so strong when I can lift 200kg. Every day I feel stronger and stronger!
Check out Ritvars's 200kg clean & jerk from Germany in his Instagram post below!
CS: How does your coaching team support you on competition day? Do you have any advice to help other lifters keep calm and focused when they are at a competition?
Ritvars: My teammates always say good things to me, like, "you are the best Ritvars! You are the strongest". My best support is from my coach Eduards, he believes in me and my power, and if he believes in me I believe in my self.
CS: You mentioned Eduards in your last answer & he is obviously a huge influence in your life, what is the best piece of advice he has given you?
Ritvars: Coach says "you only have one opponent and that is barbell and weights, don’t look to other athletes!"
CS: Who are your teammates that you generally train alongside?
Ritvars: Arturs Plesnieks, Armands Mežinski
CS: With travelling to so many competitions over the years we are interested whether you look forward to seeing any others compete or also look to other athletes for inspiration?
Ritvars: I only look to my teammates, I am not so interested in other athletes! I do not have role models, I only look to myself and want to create my own legacy.
CS: What is you weekly training schedule like in order to compete at your level?
Ritvars: I have four trainings a day, every day is the same, with 28 trainings in a week:
07:50-08:30: Morning warm up
10:00-12:00: First big training
16:00-18:00: Second big training
20:00-20:30: Jumping training
CS: Do you focus much on diet and nutrition for your performance?
Ritvars: I only really focus on my eating before competitions.
Here is Ritvars' Gold Medal performance at the 2019 European Junior Championship
CS: How popular is weightlifting in Latvia, do you get much support?
Ritvars: As Latvia is only a small country Weightlifting is actually not very common, and therefore we do not get too much support either.
CS: What has been the hardest part of your weightlifting career so far?
Ritvars: The hardest part is definitely the training schedule & daily routine. No time for friends or holiday, only training! Even after major competitions we get straight back to training.
CS: You are lucky to have travelled around the world so much! What has been your favorite competition location and why?
Ritvars: My favourite event so far has been the European Senior Championship in Batumi (Georgia) in 2019. This is where I won my first Senior title, and went 6/6 on my lifts!
Ritvars training with his Teammate Armands in 2017
Thank you again to Ritvars Suharevs for taking time to answer our questions! It has been very interesting gaining an insight into his thoughts on weightlifting and his career so far!
- Team Canterbury Strength
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