Weightlifting at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 90 kg

Men's 90 kg at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Venue	Messuhalli
Date	27 July 1952
Competitors	20 from 20 nations
Winning total	445 kg WR
Medalists
Norbert Schemansky   United States Grigory Novak   Soviet Union Lennox Kilgour   Trinidad and Tobago
1956  →

The men's 90 kg weightlifting competitions at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki took place on 27 July at Messuhalli. ^[1] It was the first appearance of the middle heavyweight class (or, as it was listed in the 1952 Official Report, the "heavy lightweight" class). Previously all weightlifters above the light heavyweight (82.5 kg) class competed together in the heavyweight class; this new middle heavyweight class featured weightlifters between 82.5 kg and 90 kg. ^[2]

Each weightlifter had three attempts at each of the three lifts. The best score for each lift was summed to give a total. The weightlifter could increase the weight between attempts (minimum of 5 kg between first and second attempts, 2.5 kg between second and third attempts) but could not decrease weight. If two or more weightlifters finished with the same total, the competitors' body weights were used as the tie-breaker (lighter athlete wins). ^[1]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Press	Grigory Novak  (URS)	143 kg		1952
	Snatch	Norbert Schemansky  (USA)	133.5 kg	Milan, Italy	28 October 1951
	Clean & Jerk	Norbert Schemansky  (USA)	175 kg	Milan, Italy	28 October 1951
	Total	Norbert Schemansky  (USA)	427.5 kg	Milan, Italy	28 October 1951
Olympic record	Press	New event	–	–	–
	Snatch	New event	–	–	–
	Clean & Jerk	New event	–	–	–
	Total	New event	–	–	–

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Body weight	Press (kg)				Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total
				1	2	3	Result	1	2	3	Result	1	2	3	Result
	Norbert Schemansky	United States	90.00	122.5	127.5	130	127.5	130	135	140 142.5 [note 1]	140 WR	165	172.5	177.5 182.5 [note 1]	177.5 WR	445 WR
	Grigory Novak	Soviet Union	87.95	140	145	145	140 OR	125	125	125	125	145	150	—	145	410
	Lennox Kilgour	Trinidad and Tobago	89.40	120	125	130	125	112.5	120	122.5	120	147.5	155	157.5	157.5	402.5
4	Mohamed Ibrahim Saleh	Egypt	89.25	110	115	115	110	117.5	122.5	125	125	150	160	162.5	162.5	397.5
5	Firouz Pojhan	Iran	87.95	112.5	117.5	117.5	112.5	120	120	125	120	150	155	160	155	387.5
6	Ken McDonald	Australia	88.75	107.5	112.5	112.5	107.5	115	120	125	125	152.5	170	170	152.5	385
7	Héctor Rensonnet	Argentina	87.35	102.5	107.5	107.5	107.5	112.5	117.5	117.5	112.5	145	150	152.5	150	370
8	Theunis Jonck	South Africa	89.30	112.5	117.5	117.5	112.5	105	110	115	110	140	145	150	145	367.5
9	Luciano Zardi	Italy	89.75	95	100	105	100	110	115	117.5	117.5	140	145	150	150	367.5
10	Kai Outa	Finland	87.45	102.5	107.5	110	107.5	110	115	115	110	132.5	142.5	147.5	147.5	365
11	Börje Jeppsson	Sweden	89.70	107.5	112.5	115	112.5	102.5	107.5	107.5	107.5	137.5	142.5	147.5	142.5	362.5
12	Jorge Soto	Puerto Rico	89.05	107.5	112.5	112.5	107.5	102.5	110	110	110	140	145	145	140	357.5
13	Jørgen Barth-Jørgensen	Norway	89.80	100	105	105	100	112.5	120	120	112.5	135	142.5	145	142.5	355
14	Bruno Barabani	Brazil	89.95	92.5	97.5	102.5	97.5	107.5	112.5	112.5	112.5	140	145	150	145	355
15	Jens Jørn Mortensen	Denmark	89.55	95	100	102.5	102.5	100	107.5	107.5	100	135	142.5	147.5	142.5	345
16	Gheorghe Piţicaru	Romania	89.95	90	95	97.5	95	97.5	102.5	102.5	102.5	127.5	132.5	135	132.5	330
17	Melville Barnett	Great Britain	89.55	117.5	117.5	117.5	117.5	110	115	115	110	142.5	142.5	142.5	—	227.5
18	László Buronyi	Hungary	89.10	105	105	110	110	110	115	115	110	—	—	—	—	220
19	Kamineni Eswara Rao	India	89.40	107.5	112.5	112.5	107.5	97.5	97.5	105	105	130	130	130	—	212.5
20	Robert Allart	Belgium	90.00	110	115	115	110	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	110

New records

Because the weight class was new to the Olympics, there was certain to be an initial Olympic record in each lift as well as the total. Schemansky, however, broke his own world records from the 1951 World Weightlifting Championships in two of the lifts as well as the combined score. Novak, who had set the world record in the press earlier in the year at 143 kg, was not able to match that score but still led handily in that lift at 140 kg (12.5 kg over Schemansky's second-place 127.5 kg).

Press	140 kg	Grigory Novak  (URS)	OR
Snatch	140 kg	Norbert Schemansky  (USA)	WR
Clean & Jerk	177.5 kg	Norbert Schemansky  (USA)	WR
Total	445 kg	Norbert Schemansky  (USA)	WR

Notes

1. Schemansky was allowed to attempt to extend his world records in the snatch and clean & jerk

References

1. Official Report, p. 392.
2. "Weightlifting at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Middle-Heavyweight". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2019.