(4 All-Time Weightlifting Greats) Paul Anderson, Tommy Kono, Ken Patera, and Naim Süleymanoğlu

Here’s a quick look at some of the accomplishments of four great weightlifters from yesteryear. For more information on these weightlifters, please listen to the podcast with my special guest, Dr. Conor Hefernan, on No Nonsense, Old School Weightlifting History. You can also listen to the podcast on Yesterday’s Sports.

Paul Anderson (USA)

1955 & 1956 Heavyweight National Weightlifting Champion.

1955 Heavyweight gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships.

1956 Heavyweight gold medalist at the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne.

Anderson broke the World Records in the snatch, clean & jerk, clean & Press, and total.

Anderson is reported to have done the following lifts in training.

Squat — 1,200 lbs. Bench Press — 628 lbs. Deadlift — 820 lbs. Snatch — 375 lbs. Clean & Press — 485 lbs. Push Press (from rack) 560 lbs. One Arm Dumbbell Press — 380 lbs.

Tommy Kono (USA)

1952 gold medalist at the Summer Olympics in Helsinki (67.5 kg weight class)

1953 gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (75 kg weight class)

1954 & 1955 gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (82.5 kg weight class)

1954 & 1955 Mr. Universe Bodybuilding — First Place.

1956 gold medalist at the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne (82.5 kg weight class)

1957 Mr. Universe Bodybuilding — First Place.

1957, 1958, and 1959 gold medalists at the World Weightlifting Championships (75 kg weight class)
1960 silver medalist at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome (75 kg weight class)

1961 Mr. Universe Bodybuilding — First Place

1961 Bronze medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (82.5 weight class)

1962 Silver medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (82.5 weight class)

Kono broke 26 World Records during his career.

Ken Patera (USA)

1968 — placed 5th in the shot put at the Olympic Trials.

1969, 1970, 1971 National Weightlifting Champion (Superheavyweight)

1971 Patera becomes the first American to clean & jerk 500 lbs.

1971 gold medalist at the Pan American Games (Superheavyweight)

1971 silver medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (Superheavyweight)

1972 National Weightlifting Champion (Superheavyweight)

1972 participant in the Summer Olympic Games in Munich (Superheavyweight)

1977 Worlds Strongest Man Competition — third place

Naim Süleymanoğlu Bulgaria & Turkey

1983 silver medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (16 yrs old)(56 kg weight class)

1984 gold medalist at the World Cup, Friendship Games, and European Championships (56 kg weight class). Note: Naim did not compete in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles due to the Soviet boycott.

1985 & 1986 gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (60 kg weight class)
Note: Naim did not compete in 1987 due to his defection from Bulgaria to Turkey.

1988 gold medalist at the Summer Olympic Games in Seoul (60 kg weight class)

1989 gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (60 kg weight class)

Note: Naim retired from weightlifting in 1990 but returned in 1991.

1991 gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (60 kg weight class)

1992 gold medalist at the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona (60 kg weight class)

1993, 1994, and 1995 gold medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships (64 kg weight class)

1996 gold medalist at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta (64 kg weight class)

Naim broke 46 World Records during his career.

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Mark Morthier is the host of Yesterday’s Sports, a podcast dedicated to reliving memorable sports moments from his childhood days and beyond. He grew up in New Jersey just across from New York City, so many of his episodes revolve around the great sport’s teams of the 70s for the New York area.

He is also an author of No Nonsense, Old School Weight Training (Second Edition): A Guide for People with Limited Time and Running Wild: (Growing Up in the 1970s)