HISTORY OF WEIGHTLIFTING (PART-1)
From: George Kirkley "Modern Weightlifting" 1961
Courtesy of Dr. Mel Siff
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PART 2 OF WEIGHTLIFTING HISTORY
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Although weightlifting is a sport that can be traced back to the earliest of the Olympic Games, it is only in the post World War II years that it has been given prominence in the national press of this country. And this has mainly come about because a certain aspect of weightlifting, weight training, has received widespread publicity because of the beneficial effects that it has produced in almost every branch of sport.
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Today it is recognized that the successful athlete must have strength as well as skill and stamina. But it has taken our coaches a long time to appreciate that the quickest and surest way to strength in muscle and joint is to be found in applying principles similar to those used for many years by successful weightlifters.
I will not develop this point now as I shall have much more to say about it later. But it might be recorded that legend has it that Milo of Crotona, an Olympic champion for no less than twenty-eight years, was the first 'scientific' weightlifter in that he progressed from strength to strength by regularly lifting a calf as it grew into a bull. That was in 684 BC and this principle of progressive weightlifting still applies today.
What is certain, however, is that the earliest weightlifting took the form of throwing weights (forerunner of the present shot putt and discus) and that the Greek word Halteres (throwing weights) is the root on which the modern word of halterophilia (weightlifting) has grown. For many years the French Weightlifting Federation had, as its native title, 'Federation Francaise de Poids et Halteres', while the present international governing body has, as its title, Federation Internationale de Halterophile et Culturiste (F.I.H.C.).
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Modern weightlifting really began in the year 1920, when the Seventh Olympic Games were held in Antwerp, Belgium. And although the world was still feeling the effects of the First World War, no less than fourteen nations sent athletes to compete for the Olympic weightlifting titles.
The competition lifts in Antwerp were the One Hand Snatch, the One Hand Clean and Jerk and the Two Hands Clean and Jerk. At Paris, in 1924, the Two Hands Press and the Two Hands Snatch were added to these to make a five-lift championship. These lifts gave way later to the 'Olympic Three'- the Two Hands Clean and Press, the Two Hands Snatch and the Two Hands Clean and Jerk - which have remained the standard lifts to the present day.
[This book was written in 1961. The Two Hands Clean and Press was dropped from official competition in 1972, much to the dismay of many of us who relied strongly on a big Press to achieve a good three-lift (triathlon) Total. Mel Siff]
Now, the sport is controlled by an international body with more than sixty affiliated national associations and-as is described in the next chapter-has control throughout the world.
[Today, there are more than 120 affiliated nations. Mel Siff]
In the early days of modern weightlifting it is interesting to note how nations triumphed and then faded. In the Eighth Olympiad (Paris, 1924) Italy won three of the five Olympic titles: at Amsterdam (1928) she had to be content with one second place; in 1932 (Los Angeles) one second place. At Berlin in 1936 the highest Italian placing was sixth. The decline was well under way, and in 1948 (London) Italy was nowhere. There are, however, recent signs of a revival, for under state encouragement all sports in Italy are making rapid strides..
The story of weightlifting in France is similar. Two Olympic champions in 1920, two again in 1924, one in 1928, three in 1932 and one in 1936. With the rise of other nations the decline of France began and no Frenchman mounted the winner's ostrum in 1948. But here again there are some signs of a comeback from the country which has done so much for the sport. Their best performer, Jean DeBuf, won the mid-heavyweight
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The next great weightlifting nation was Germany-- the original home of many famous strong men. Greatly affected by two world wars, she yet reigned supreme for a long time. With one first, one second, a third and two fourth places in the 1928 Olympiad, Germany had more success at Los Angeles in 1932 with Ismayr taking the middleweight title, Schafer fourth in the featherweights and Strassberger third in the heavyweights. On home ground in 1936, before a very nationalistic audience, the German challenge faltered against the strong Egyptian attack and only heavyweight Josef Manger remained supreme. Germany also had two seconds and two thirds. There were no German competitors in 1948 and it is only recently that international competition has been restarted by that nation.
[In the 1970s several West German and East German lifters flourished, with the W German, Rolf Milser, being one of the few Westerners to defeat the Eastern bloc lifters in some lifts from 1978 onwards. Another big German name was Rudi Mang. Around that period, Josef Schnell, German engineer and lifting coach, started producing his excellent and very original variable-resistance Schnell machines, which I ended up importing to S Africa for our university weightlifting club. They proved to be extremely durable and needed virtually no maintenance, which is a real plus for a very busy university facility. Mel Siff]
For several years Egypt was the leading weightlifting nation, but has now faded badly away. With a first world champion, Nosseir, light-heavyweight in 1928, she did not appear agai n until 1936 when in Berlin, her champions astonished the world with Saleh and Shams (second and third in the featherweights), Mesbah (first in the lightweights), El Touni (first in the middleweights) and Ibrahim (third in the light-heavyweights). It was an outstanding performance. Success came again in London in 1948 when the brilliant Fayad and Shams won the featherweight and lightweight Olympic crowns.
It is now time to record the entry of the giants, two nations completely dissimilar but devoted to the same purpose of achieving world weightlifting honours-the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. On one side, in America, we have a great weightlifting team gathered, supported and encouraged almost solely by the efforts of one man, Bob Hoffman of York, Pa. On the other there is a huge country of over 100,000 weightlifters, state organized and controlled on a vast scale. Today the titanic struggles of these two great nations dwarf the attempts of all others in world and Olympic championships, and very rarely does either nation fail to provide the winner in each of the seven class weights.
[That day of frequent US successes if lifting has never returned and there has been no real replacement for the efforts of Bob Hoffman and his York empire, despite the fact that we have an extremely well-equipped Olympic Training Center and full-time coaches. More sadly, there are probably fewer US lifters today that way back in Hoffman's time. There must be something like 4-6 times as many powerlifters in the USA than weightlifters and there still does not seem to be any noticeable increase in the number of novices to ensure the growth of future weightlifting in the USA. Mel Siff]
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[John terpak and his son, John Terpak Jr eventually became leading lights in the York Barbell Club founded by Bob Hoffman. Mel Siff]
New regulations drawn up by the International Federation limiting the number of competitors in each national team to one man per class, and later to a total team of seven (with the option of putting two men in one class and none in another) greatly affected the balance of power and the entry in the Helsinki Games of 1952 of a great Russian team sparked off the intense rivalry between U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. which has continued to this day, providing the weightlifting world with exciting contests, wonderful displays of scientific strength and improving records which reach almost fantastic and unbelievable heights.
[This Russian dominance continued way beyond the days of Kirkley right up to very recent times, with only the tiny nation of Bulgaria periodically unseating this dominance. Mel Siff]
The Helsinki Games was one of the greatest strength contests of all time, for it saw not only the U.S.A. beat the U.S.S.R. by one point in the unofficial team contest but the breaking of five world's records, fourteen Olympic records and the eclipse of Egypt as a weightlifting nation. Of the twenty-one places (1, 2, 3 in each of seven classes) the U.S.A. had six, including four winners, while the U.S.S.R. totalled seven, including three winners. But the 1956 Melbourne Olympiad provided an even greater occasion. Again it was U.S.A. and Russia ahead of the field, each scoring twenty-seven points in the unofficial team contest, with U.S.A. claiming victory by virtue of their four first places to the Russians' three.
The standard soared to even greater heights than the most optimistic of authorities predicted. No less than five world record totals were created, with four other world records on individual lifts.
Since 1956, the Russians have gradually drawn away from the rest of the other nations and at Rome in 1960 each of their competitors either won a title, equalled or broke a world record. They won five Olympic titles, with one each going to U.S.A. and Poland.
Poland surprised everyone in 1959 by taking second place to the Russians. With the world championships held in their own country at Warsaw, they made a special effort and were rewarded with one world title and two world records.
After the Second World War interest in weightlifting as an international sport greatly increased. Championships take place annually at all levels from local to county, from national to zone. There are world championships every year except the year in which the Olympic Games are held, with European, Pan-American championships and many international contests intervening.
PART 2 OF WEIGHTLIFTING HISTORY
