Oleksiy Pavlovych Torokhtiy (; born May 22, 1986, in Zuhres) is a Ukrainian weightlifter, an Olympic Gold Medalist in weightlifting (London 2012) until disqualified for a doping offence, winner of World and European Championships. Participant of two Olympic Games (2008, 2012). Oleksiy was also a Member of European Weightlifting Federation Executive Committee, Deputy Chairman of Ukrainian National Olympic Commіttee Athletes Commission and the Vice-President of the Weightlifting Federation of Ukraine (2016-2020).
Currently, Oleksiy actively holds master classes and seminars on weightlifting all over the world. Oleksiy is the founder of international sportswear and accessories brand "Warm Body Cold Mind". Oleksiy is an author and creator of a series of training programs and nutrition sets called TORWOD.
Oleksiy is one of the biggest social media influencers in weightlifting, with more than half a million Instagram followers. He is famous for his free training videos on his YouTube channel. In 2019, he was awarded with YouTube Silver Play Button for more than 100,000 subscribers and currently has over 280,000 subscribers.
Biography Torokhtiy was born on May 22, 1986, in Zugres, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
In 2003 he graduated from Kharkiv Regional Higher School of Physical Culture with a degree in Physical Education.
In 2010 he graduated from Kharkiv Aviation Institute with a degree in "control system for flying machines and complexes" and was certified as an engineer.
In 2013, he launched his YouTube channel and became popular for his free training videos. Later he made video collaborations for his channel with world famous athletes including Oleksandr Usyk, Noah Ohlsen, Ruslan Nurudinov, Rebeka Koha, Zhan Belenyuk, Levan Saginashvili, Aleksandar Rakic, Dmyto Chumak, Oleksiy Novikov, Yaroslav Amosov.
In 2014 he received a second degree in Zaporizhzhya National University, specializing in physical education and sports / weightlifting coach.
In 2016, he founded the international brand of sportswear and accessories "Warm Body Cold Mind" (WBCM). It became famous for its slogan on t-shirts. "The (WBCM) shirt made its debut in (famous American baseball player Bryce Harper) his first media address in Florida, and was casually noted by the Washington Post, ESPN, Yahoo! Sports and more, who failed to grasp what it means". Now his brand is selling online all over the world. Since 2019 “Warm Body Cold Mind” collaborated with world-famous weightlifters as Rebeka Koha, Mohamed Ehab and Ruslan Nurudinov.
In 2020, Oleksiy released his eBook titled “The Snatch MasterClass: Olympic Weightlifting Course for Athletes & Coaches“. That same year, he entered the National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport to obtain a Ph.D. in Sports Science. In 2025, he completed his Ph.D. in Sports Science, with a doctoral thesis titled “Programming classes for learning weightlifting exercises technique by athletes having different levels of physical fitness”. Oleksiy based his second eBook, “The Olympic Clean MasterClass“ on his Ph.D. research. In 2026, he released his third course, “The Jerk MasterClass“, continuing his series of Olympic weightlifting educational resources.
Personal life Oleksiy Torokhtiy is married to Daria who works as a guitar teacher. Oleksiy and Daria have a son Myron (2015).
Sports career Oleksiy started weightlifting in 2000. In 2005 he joined the Ukrainian national Olympic weightlifting team.
In 2006, at the European Junior Championships, he became a bronze medalist in the snatch and clean & jerk.
In 2007 he became the winner of the World Weightlifting Cup in Apia.
In 2008, he became a participant of the XXIX Olympic Games in Beijing, where he became one of the 10 strongest athletes in the category of up to 105 kg. Due to a lack of financial support, he had to retire from competitive Olympic Weightlifting right after the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing. 5 months after his retirement, he got a sponsor, that allowed him to continue with his professional career.
In 2009 he won the gold in clean & jerk and became a silver medalist in European Championships in Bucharest (405 kg).
In 2010, he received the silver in clean & jerk and became the bronze medalist of the European Weightlifting Championships in Minsk.
In 2011 in Paris, Oleksiy Torokhtiy became the bronze medalist of the World Championship.
On August 6, 2012, in London Oleksiy became the Olympic Gold Medalist in weightlifting in the category 105 kg.
On 22 December 2018, it was announced that as a consequence of the International Olympic Committee’s re-analysis program in connection with the 2012 London Olympic Games Oleksiy had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. and in December 2019 it was confirmed that he had been disqualified.
Major results Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank 1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 Rank Olympic Games 2008 Beijing, China 105 kg 172 177 181 9 213 220 220 10 390 10 2012 London, England 105 kg 185 190 190 2 222 226 227 1 412 DQ World Championships 2006 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 105 kg 160 160 165 17 200 205 208 13 373 12 2007 Chiang Mai, Thailand 105 kg 167 167 167 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2009 Goyang, South Korea 105 kg 176 180 183 5 215 221 221 5 395 2011 Paris, France 105 kg 176 181 185 5 220 229 229 410 European Championships 2008 Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy 105 kg 170 170 175 6 210 217 220 395 5 2009 Bucharest, Romania 105 kg 172 177 181 4 213 220 224 405 2010 Minsk, Belarus 105 kg 175 180 180 7 217 221 225 396 2011 Kazan, Russia 105 kg 170 175 175 11 215 215 218 385 5
Books The Snatch MasterClass: Olympic Weightlifting Course for Athletes & Coaches (2020). The Olympic Clean MasterClass (2021).
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