Weightlifting

Welcome and thanks for visiting...
Join Now!

A Look Back at Weightlifting

Published: 2019-07-11
A Look Back at Weightlifting
5/5 Average rating
Please sign in in order to rate the blog.

Many of today’s weightlifters seem to have little awareness of the great exploits of Team USA in decades past. During the immediate post-World War II era the United States was the dominant force on the international weightlifting platform. The American team roster featured such greats as John Davis, Norb Schemansky, Stan Stanczyk, Pete George, Tommy Kono, Chuck Vinci, and Ike Berger. By the 1950s, the Soviet Union challenged this position. By the 1960s American lifters remained on the podium, but often not on the top spot. 

How did this change come about? We all learn to snatch and clean-and-jerk about the same. What factors contributed to much of the rest of the world catching up with, and surpassing, America’s best efforts? These and other topics were the recent focus of an hour-and-a-half podcast, thanks to the efforts of Seb Ostrowicz (Weightlifting House) and Joshua Gibson (Philosophical Weightlifting), who interviewed former US Olympic Team Coach Harvey Newton. 

Click here for the podcast.