Heavyweight Winners at the 1960 Olympics in Rome
History in Color:
September 10, 1960, Rome, Italy – Olympic weightlifting heavyweights receive the medals that they won in the 90+kg weight class in the last day of the weightlifting tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome (left to right):
Jim Bradford (USA, 512.5kg total, silver medal), Yury Vlasov (USSR, 537.5kg total, gold medal), Norbert Schemansky (USA, 500kg total, bronze medal)
All three medalists are true legends of this sport and there were numerous History in Color feature photos and stories about them.
At the time of his big win in Rome, Yury Vlasov was 24. His bodyweight was 123.3kg and he won the Olympic gold with a world record total of 537.5kg (180+155+202.5). Vlasov managed to reach an unthinkable milestone for many years – he broke the world record in total (512.5kg) set by Paul Anderson (USA) in 1955.
31-year old U.S. heavy weight Jim Bradford of Washington, DC had a 122.5kg bodyweight and he won his second silver medal at his second Olympics. Previously, he won the 2nd place at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. For Bradford, it was the last appearance at the international tournaments and he finished with a silver medal and all-time personal best total – 512.5kg (180+150+182.5).
For a 36-year old Olympic champion Norbert Schemansky, 108.5kg heavyweight from Detroit, MI it was the 3rd Olympics. He already won the silver in London (1948) and the gold in Helsinki (1952). At the 1960 Summer Olympics, Schemansky won a bronze medal with a 500kg (170+150+180) total.