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Who was the first person to lift 400 pounds overhead in a weightlifting competition?
Question
#111720. Asked by serpa. (Dec 26 09 1:08 AM)
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serpa
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That was a very informative article but his feat seemed to occur in an exhibition an not a competition. I'll present Paul Anderson as the answer...
In 1955, at the height of the Cold War, Anderson, as winner of the USA National Amateur Athletic Union Weightlifting Championship, traveled to the Soviet Union, where weightlifting was a popular sport, for an international weightlifting competition. In a newsreel of the event shown in the United States the narrator, Bud Palmer, commented as follows: "Then, up to the bar stepped a great ball of a man, Paul Anderson." And paraphrasing Palmer "The Russians snickered as Anderson gripped the bar which was set at 402.5 pounds, an unheard of lift. But their snickers quickly changed to awe and all out cheers as up went the bar and Anderson lifted the heaviest weight overhead of any human in history." Prior to Anderson's lift, the Russian champion, Medvedev, had matched the Olympic record of the time with a 330.5 pound press. Anderson then did a 402.5 pound press.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Edward_Anderson
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serpa
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I now present John Davis. Another man who was the first according to wikipedia. They both can't be the first...
At his peak, Davis held all the world records in his class. Of his many thrilling performances, perhaps his clean and jerk of 402 pounds in the 1951 Senior Nationals held in Los Angeles, California will be best remembered because it marked the first time more than 400 pounds was lifted in this fashion on a standard Olympic Barbell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Davis_(weightlifter)
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weh1921
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In 1912 Swobado did a continental clean and jerk of approximately 402 lbs. He was a large and very broad individual weighting well over 300 pounds. The weightlifting bars at that time were unlike the flexible bars that started being used after the late 1920s. Those were dead bars with little spring in them. The continental clean is where you bring the bar to the chest in several motions rather than in one complete motion as is done today. It is estimated that the modern bars allowed a competitor to lift up to 10 percent more than on the “dead bars”. Swabado also jerked overhead 440 lbs. after it was handed to him by several men at the shoulders.
http://www.bobwhelan.com/history/superstrength14.htm
He was every bit as powerful as any modern day lifter considering the training methods and of course the steroids that people are allegedly tested for and proven clean despite all the masking techniques that are used.
John Davis did officially clean and jerk 400 lbs. in 1951 using an Olympic 7 foot bars. Davis himself was not a large man and rarely weighed more than 220 lbs at about 5 feet 9 inches.
In 1940 Frank Orant jerked 403 lbs. at a bodyweight of 189.5 lbs. in an exhibition after an official competition when the bar was handed to him at his shoulders but he best clean which he jerked with little trouble was about 353 lbs. He was drafted into the arms during WW2 and this essentially put an end to his lifting career. His limiting factor was getting the barbell to his chest. He used a rather shallow split unlike today’s lifters that go into a deep full squat when catching the bar then stand up with the weight to jerk it overhead. This receiving the bar in a deep full front squat adds considerable to the weight cleans as one does not have to pull it nearly as high when split cleaning.
Steve Stanko cleaned and jerked with a very short split 381 pounds in 1941 and did a continental clean and jerk of 420 pounds at a bodyweight of about 225-230 pounds. Unfortunately, before he could try a 400 pound clean and jerk he developed blood clots in a leg form and old injury and had to give up over head heavy lifting. He was the first man to total 1,000 pounds on the three Olympic lifts at that time press 310 pounds, snatch 310 pounds and clean and jerk 380 pounds. There is little doubt he would have been the first man to clean and jerk 400 had he stayed healthy.
In the late 1920 Milo Steinborn made an official clean and jerk of 350 and a training lift of 375 so he was very close. Milo weighed about 200-210 pounds.
Just before Swobado Joseph Steinbach weighing about 245 pounds was able to jerk in the 386 for a couple of reps which correlates to a single lift in the 395 to 400 pound range.
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