![]() Namjoo in the 1950s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | September 22, 1918 Rasht, Iran [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | January 21, 1989 (aged 70) Tehran, Iran [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Weightlifting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Mahmoud Namjoo (Persian : محمود نامجو, September 22, 1918 – January 21, 1989) was an Iranian bantamweight weightlifter. He competed at the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics and placed fifth, second and third, respectively. At the world championships he won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals between 1949 and 1957, [1] [2] becoming the first Iranian weightlifter to win a world title. Namjoo was also the first Asian weightlifter to set a world record; [3] during his career he set four: one in clean and jerk in 1949 and three in the total, in 1948, 1949 and 1951. [4]
Namjoo was born in Rasht in 1918 and in 1937 moved to Tehran, where he worked at a carpentry workshop. He took weightlifting in a gym nearby. Besides weightlifting he also competed in bodybuilding, and won the Mr. Universe title in his weight division in 1948, placing fifth in 1955. [5] In 1956 he spent two months working as a weightlifting coach in Turkey. He continued training in his forties and unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the 1960 Olympics. [2] He died of pancreatic cancer aged 70. [3]
Mahmoud Namjoo at Olympedia ( archive )
Marian Zieliński was a Polish weightlifter. He competed at the 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won bronze medals in 1956, 1964 and 1968, placing fourth in 1960. He held the world and European titles in 1959 and 1963. Zieliński set three ratified world records: two in the snatch in 1958 and one in the clean and jerk in 1964.
Khedr Sayed El Touny was an Egyptian weightlifter. He was ranked number one on the list of history's 50 greatest weightlifters issued by the International Weightlifting Federation, until Turkey's Naim Süleymanoğlu surpassed the Egyptian to top the list at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Norair Nurikyan is a former Bulgarian weightlifter of Armenian descent. He is a two-time Olympic Champion and was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labor of Bulgaria and Order of the Bulgaria, First Degree titles. In 1994, Nurikyan was inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Isaac "Ike" Berger was an American weightlifter, in the featherweight division, who competed for the United States at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won one gold and two silver medals. He held eight world records, and won the United States national title eight times. In the highest level international competition, he was world featherweight (60 kg) champion in 1958 and 1961, and was the runner-up for that title in 1957, 1959, and 1963.
Frank Isaac Spellman was an American machinist and photographer and a middleweight Olympic champion weightlifter. He won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics, and a bronze medal and a silver medal at the World Championships in 1946–47. He also won a gold medal at the 1950 Maccabiah Games.
Colombia first formally participated at the Olympic Games in 1932, and has sent athletes to compete in all but one edition of the Summer Olympic Games since then, missing only the 1952 Games. Colombian athletes have won a total of 38 Olympic medals in eight different sports, with weightlifting and cycling as the most successful ones. Colombia is the third most successful South American country at the Olympic Games, after Brazil and Argentina respectively. The Colombian Olympic Committee was created in 1936 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee in 1948.
Peter T. George was an American weightlifter and Olympic and World champion. He was later an assistant professor of stomatology. George was the first weightlifter of Bulgarian descent to win Olympic gold, which has since been achieved by other Bulgarian Olympians.
Rafael Arkadyevich Chimishkyan was a Georgian weightlifter who competed for the Soviet Union and Olympic, World, European and Soviet Champion. Chimishkyan was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1952. He was an honorary citizen of Tbilisi.
Trofim Fyodorovich Lomakin was a Russian weightlifter who competed for the Soviet Union. He won a gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He also won two world titles and set five official and five unofficial world records (1953–1960), two in the press, five in the clean and jerk, and three in the total.
Rudolf Vladimirovich Plyukfelder is a retired Soviet weightlifter and weightlifting coach. As a competitor he won world titles in 1959 and 1961 and an Olympic gold medal in 1964. As a coach he prepared a series of Olympic champions including Aleksey Vakhonin, Vasily Alekseyev, David Rigert, Nikolay Kolesnikov, Aleksandr Voronin and Viktor Tregubov.
Ivan Vasilevich Udodov was a Russian weightlifter who won an Olympic gold medal in 1952 and a world title in 1953, both in the bantamweight category (−56 kg). He then moved to the featherweight (−60 kg) class and won silver medals at the world championships of 1954 and 1955. In 1952–54 Udodov set four world records: one in the press, one in the snatch, and two in the total.
Yevgeny Gavrilovich Minayev was a Russian weightlifter who competed for the Soviet Union. He won a silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Jafar Salmassi was an Iranian weightlifter who won Iran's first Olympic medal at 1948 Summer Olympics.
Kaarlo Olavi Kangasniemi is a retired Finnish weightlifter. Between 1968 and 1972 he won one Olympic, two world and two European titles in the 90 kg division, becoming the only Finnish weightlifter to win either an Olympic or world title. In the same period he set 16 ratified world records: four in the press, seven in the snatch and five in the total. He placed sixth at the 1972 Olympics and seventh in 1964. Kangasniemi was chosen as the world's best weightlifter in 1969 and as the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year in 1968 and 1969. After retiring from senior competitions in 1973 he worked as a weightlifting coach and weightlifting commentator with Eurosport; he continued competing in the masters category, winning a world title and setting a clean and jerk world record. In 1987 he was a candidate to the Parliament of Finland from the Finnish Rural Party, but was not elected. In 1998 he was inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Rodney Adolphus Wilkes was a weightlifter from Trinidad and Tobago. Nicknamed "The Mighty Midget" he remained relatively unknown outside of local competition until he won the gold medal at the 1946 Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia. His performance included record lifts of 205 pounds (93 kg) in the press, 210 pounds (95 kg) in the snatch and 275 pounds (125 kg) in the clean and jerk.
Lü Xiaojun is a Chinese weightlifter. He is a three-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion competing in the 77 kg category until 2018 and 81 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. He is widely considered as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time.
Mohamed Ehab Youssef Ahmed Mahmoud, known as Mohamed Mahmoud or Mohamed Ehab, is an Egyptian weightlifter, and World Champion competing in the 77 kg category until 2018 and 81 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Iran Weightlifting Federation is the governing body for weightlifting in Iran.
Fares Ibrahim Saed Hassouna El-Bakh, commonly known as Meso Hassouna, is a Qatari weightlifter of Egyptian origin. He is an Olympic Champion, World Champion and two time Junior World Champion competing in the 85 kg, and 94 kg categories until 2018 and 96 kg and 102 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Javad Foroughi is an Iranian sport shooter, born in Dehloran. He represented Iran at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, competing in Men's 10 metre air pistol and in Mixed 10 metre air pistol team.