Doug Hepburn

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Doug Ivan Hepburn (September 16, 1926 - November 22, 2000) was a Canadian world-champion weightlifter.

Born in Vancouver with a clubbed foot and cross-eyed, Hepburn overcame these handicaps, setting a Canadian record for weightlifting in 1950 and winning gold medals at the 1953 world championships in Stockholm and the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. His record for the one-arm dumbbell press, also called a Hepburn Press in his honour, remains unbroken.

Like his father and step-father he battled with alcoholism, and this combined with depression made for a hard private life. After his successes as a weightlifter, he became a professional wrestler late in 1954, signing what was announced as a five-year contract with Toronto promoter Frank Tunney. Less than 18 months later, the relationship between Tunney and Hepburn ended, but Hepburn continued to work as a professional wrestler in the Vancouver area until 1960.

Hepburn opened a gym at the age of 37. Perhaps inspired with his own battles against addiction, Hepburn became a strong advocate of drug free athletics.

Hepburn was a singer and songwriter, releasing a Christmas tune, the Hepburn Carol. He had literary ambitions and had a large output of essays and poems and other writings. In his later years he custom-built gym equipment and marketed protein powder and other sports supplements.

Hepburn died of a perforated ulcer at age 74.