Schemansky competed across four decades, winning competitions, breaking records and, with his 400-pound heaves, leaving spectators in awe. “Norbert Schemansky is the greatest and strongest athlete I have ever seen,” his Cold War rival and fellow Olympian Yuri Vlasov of Ukraine was quoted as saying. He began his Olympic run in 1948 in London, where he won the silver medal in the super heavyweight class. He later exceeded that total, lifting 415, 363 ¾ and 445 (totaling 1,223 ¾ pounds). “What Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis are to boxing, what John Grimek and Arnold Schwarzenegger mean to bodybuilding, and what Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky represent in hockey, Norbert Schemansky is to Olympic weight lifting,” Richard Bak wrote in his 2007 biography of Schemansky, “Mr.

Source: New York Times September 09, 2016 18:05 UTC