Olympic Weightlifting Archives - Page 2 of 3

The Good Brothers

Posted on Friday, November 10th, 2017 by John Wood

The Good Brothers, Harry, Walter and Bill, were a trio of weightlifters and Strongmen from Eastern Pennsylvania. Bill was the strongest of the three, winning seven Senior National Weightlifting Titles (1930-1937) and competing in two Olympic Games (1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin). Bill Good was the first American to Clean & Jerk 350 Pounds. Walter Good competed in the 1936 Olympics as well. Harry was the U.S. Professional Champion in 1933 in addition to writing training articles for a number of different strength publications and training courses. Harry Good went on to establish the “Good Barbell Company” in the late 1930’s. Mark Berry also used the Good Brothers to demonstrate several of the exercises in his book Physical Training Simplified (1930).

The 1946 U.S. World Weightlifting Team

Posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2016 by John Wood

A look at most of the 1946 U.S. World Weightlifting Team left to right: John Davis, Emerick Ishikawa, Frank Spellman, John Terpak, Stan Stanczyk, and coach Bob Hoffman. (not pictured: Frank Kay.)

This was the first team to lift against the Russians. Davis and Stanczyk both won Gold, Terpak and Kay took Silver and Spellman took Bronze. The Russians entered ten lifters to only six from the US but the US came back with the team championship.

Gary Cleveland

Posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2016 by John Wood

Gary Cleveland, 2-time Senior National Champion weightlifter, York Man, strength author an all-around nice guy is shown here placing 5th in the 82.5 kg class at the 1964 Olympic games held in Tokyo, Japan. Cleveland was a very good presser.

He went on to write a number of training articles for several different publications and also self-published a successful newsletter called The Avian Movement Advocate which was devoted to many different facets of strength training, philosophy and physical culture.

John Davis and BAWLA Plates

Posted on Friday, August 14th, 2015 by John Wood

Here’s a rare look at the great John Davis. Hard to tell were this shot is from though. This image was actually from a German tobacco card from 1952. If you take a close look, those are BAWLA (British Amateur Weight Lifting Association) Plates so it may be from the 1948 Olympics, held in London, where Davis took home the gold medal. Problem is, it doesn’t match up to any other shots we have seen from that time period. Either way, another look at Mr. Davis in action is always a good thing.

Tom Tyler

Posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2014 by John Wood

Tom Tyler, late of Hollywood, California, was the 1928 AAU Heavyweight lifting champion and first American to clean & jerk 300 pounds in an AAU competition. Here’s a rare shot of Tyler at the 1928 Olympic weightlifting tryouts. Believe it or not, this is that Tom Tyler, western movie star and of Captain Marvel fame.

Isaac “Ike” Berger

Posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2014 by John Wood

Ike Berger is one of America’s most successful Olympic Weightlifters — he was the first featherweight in history to lift more than 800 pounds and the first to press double body weight.

Over Ike’s career he was the owner of 23 world weightlifting records, a 12-time United States national titleholder, 2-time World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist at the 1956 Games in Melbourne Australia (along with two more Silver medals at the next two Olympic Games.)

At the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games, he established a record of 152.5 kg (336-1/2 lbs.) in the jerk, at a bodyweight of only 130 pounds (59 kg). This lift bettered the world record by 11 lbs., and made Ike pound-for-pound the strongest man in the world, a record that stood for nine years.

Ike Berger was elected to the United States Weightlifter’s Hall of Fame in 1965.

Championnat Halterophile

Posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2014 by John Wood

Here’s something you sure won’t see again: a weightlifting contest sponsored by a tobacco company. As you can see noted, this particular contest took place on Saturday, January 25, 1964 in Liege. Belgium. … and unsurprisingly, Richmond Louis Doize are a Belgian brand of cigarettes.

1928 Milo Barbell Advertisement, Featuring Al Manger

Posted on Friday, June 13th, 2014 by John Wood

1928 Milo Barbell Advertisement, Featuring Al Manger

Here’s an interesting one: this 1928 Milo Barbell advertisement features Mr. Al Manger, who built himself up from “a bag of bones” into a weightlifting champion with the power of sensible physical training and a Milo weight set. At the age of 21, Manger weighed only 97 pounds, and within a year of barbell training, had added 26 pounds of solid muscle.

Manger kept at it, and went on to win three national lifting championships, one in the 181 lb. class in 1929 and two light-heavyweight crowns in 1930 and 1932. Manger finished fifth with a 315 kg. total at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic games. Manger also won regional championships in the shot put and weight throwing.

…Pretty good for a skinny kid from Baltimore.

If you would like to learn about the specific types of training that helped Manger build his strength, you’ll find it in The Alan Calvert Collection.

Novak’s World Record Press

Posted on Friday, May 9th, 2014 by John Wood

A look at the great soviet weightlifter Grigori Novak’s World Record standing press of 315 pounds (at 5’3″ and a bodyweight of only 181 pounds!) This would have been in 1949 in a meet in Moscow. Novak’s career was marred by an elbow injury which necessitated an operation – you can tell his left arm is a bit “off” here.

Alexeev’s Unusual Training

Posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2014 by John Wood

The Russian Champion Vasily Alexeev is one of the greatest weightlifters who ever lived. One of Alexeev’s most unusual training techniques was to practice his cleans in waist-deep water. This famous shot was taken of Alexeev as he trained in the Don River in Mother Russia. Unconventional… but certainly effective: Alexeev set the first of his 80 world records in 1970 and was undefeated for the remainder of his career which also included two Olympic Gold medal winning performances (1972, Munich and 1976, Montreal).