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WEIGHTLIFTING
IN ANTIQUITY
 Although
weightlifting is considered to be the main
sport of strength and vigour, it was not
included in the programme of the Olympic
Games in ancient years. Since that time,
weightlifting became a way of demonstrating
physical strength. Greeks treated top
weightlifters as half-gods. Milon of Kroton,
whose athletic achievements Pausanias extols
in his work “Iliaka”, is a perfect example.
He was not the strongest though. Elianos
records that Titormos of Etolia carried a
huge rock, which Milon could barely lift.
When he saw Titormos carrying the rock,
Milon exclaimed: “Zeus, have you sent us a
second Hercules?”
In an Egyptian royal tomb, people are
depicted lifting bags loaded with sand.
Nevertheless, there is no written evidence
suggesting an athletic competition.
On the other hand, in Greece, at Pelopio of
Ilia, a site near Ancient Olympia, a 143,5kg
stone was found dating back to the 6th
century BC, where one could easily read the
inscription: “Vyvon lifted me with one hand
over his head”! Not only the inscription but
also the fact that the stone was carved so
that the athlete could grab it, suggest that
Vyvon won a weightlifting competition.
Although French historian Raymond Vanker
once wrote that modern athletes could lift
heavier weights, it remains an amazing
athletic feat given the fact that no athlete
in our days is strong enough to lift a
143,5kg stone with one hand.
Vyvon’s stone is exhibited at the museum of
Ancient Olympia.
An achievement almost beyond physical power
is recorded on a huge 480kg stone, found in
Thira (Santorini). According to the
inscription, Eumastas, son of Kritovoulos,
lifted that stone from the ground. The
assumption that Eumastas probably used both
hands to lift 480kg few centimeters off the
ground does not lessen his achievement.
The most important proof that even though
weightlifting was not included in major
athletic games, every Greek city-state held
its own weightlifting competitions
(“domestic games”) can be found in Wurzburg
Museum in Germany. A cup (dating back to 500
BC) similar to those that ancient Greeks,
Athenians in particular, awarded to winners,
presents a young man lifting two stones.
This young man is considered to be the
winner of a weightlifting competition.
It is therefore confirmed that weightlifting
constituted an athletic event in ancient
years. The attempt of ancient Greeks to
combine strength with velocity and
flexibility was probably the main reason why
they chose not to include it in the Olympic
Games. Nevertheless, all athletes used to
practice weightlifting as a training
exercise.
As Filostratos once wrote: “Old gymnastics
aimed to enhance physical strength. Athletes
used to lift big weights in order to become
stronger”. |
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From Antiquity to the 19th
Century
Modern weightlifting history
officially begins on March 28, 1891, when the first
weightlifting World Championships were held in London, where
7 athletes representing 6 countries took part. Unofficially,
the story goes way back, when people paid to see gigantic
men demonstrating their physical power in public places
(parks, public squares, etc). According to people’s
testimonies, Canadian Louis Sur lifted a 669kg wagon in
1880. American Walter Kennedy lifted from the ground a
sphere weighing 600kg, while Czech Anton Richa held over him
a weight of 854kg.
Weightlifting competitions began to take place in USA since
1860. Ten years later the sport became known in Europe; the
first weightlifting clubs were set up in Paris and in
Brussels.
The
first official weightlifting competition in Greece was held
in 1888 during the 4th Zappas Olympiad, at the Central
Gymnasium in Omonia. As Paulos Manitakis mentions in his
book “100 years of Greek sports 1830-1930”, “in one-hand
lift, Anastassios Philadelpheus from Athens came up first
and Lazaros Moussiou second. In two-hand lift, Lazaros
Moussiou (a hair dresser from Spetses) came up first and
Ioannis Tsepetakis second”. Those three pioneering
weightlifters also competed in other events. Tsepetakis took
the first place in shot put, Moussiou came up second in pole
vault and Philadelpheus second in climbing.
At the
first modern Olympic Games in 1896, weightlifting moved from
town squares to stadiums. The Weightlifting Organizing
Committee decided to include weightlifting among the nine
Olympic events. Qualifying games were held in Greece aiming
to form a national team that would represent the country at
the Olympics. Sotiris Versis and Alexandros Nikolopoulos
qualified for one-hand lift. Sotiris Versis and Georgios
Papasideris dominated the two-hand lift.
According to the official records of the first Olympics,
indicted by Timoleon Filimon, N. Politis and H. Anninos, the
event was held, fifth in a row, on March 26, 1896, on the
second day of the games. Eight athletes participated; Viggo
Jensen from Denmark and Launceston Elliot from Britain took
first and second place respectively.
The two
Greeks came up third. Sotiris Versis of Panellinios GS
lifted 100kg in two-hand lift. Born in 1875 he was an
all-around athlete. He also competed in discus finishing
third with 27.78m. Member of a wealthy Athenian family,
Versis practiced shooting as a hobby. In 1896, he was into
commercial studies. Later he worked in the stock market. He
died in 1918 at the age of 43 struck by Asiatic influenza.
Alexandros Nikolopoulos, a medical student from Messinia,
came up third with 57,2kg in one-hand lift.
Greece
played a decisive role in establishing weightlifting as an
Olympic event. On the other hand, the French did not include
weightlifting in the program of Paris Olympics in 1900.
Reinstated in St Louis (1904) and Athens (1906 Mid-Olympics)
weightlifting was excluded from London (1908) and Stockholm
(1912) Olympics.
