Paul Anderson (weightlifter)

Paul Anderson
Personal information
Nationality American
Born October 17, 1932
Toccoa , Georgia, USA
Died August 15, 1994 (aged 61)
Vidalia, Georgia, USA
Height 5 ft 9.5 in (1.77 m)[1]
Weight 360 lb (163kg)
Sport
Sport Olympic weightlifting, Strongman, Powerlifting

Paul Edward Anderson (October 17, 1932 - August 15, 1994) was an American weightlifter, strongman, and powerlifter. He is an Olympic gold medalist, World Champion and two time National Champion in Olympic weightlifting. Anderson played a big part in the manifestation of powerlifting as a competitive sport. He is considered to be one of the strongest men in recorded history for his mostly unequaled feats of strength.

Early life

Anderson was born in Toccoa, Georgia, United States of America.[4]

As a teenager, he began his early weight training on his own in his family's backyard at Toccoa, Georgia to increase his size and strength so that he would be able to play on the Toccoa High School football team, where Anderson earned a position as first-team blocking back.[5]

Anderson later attended Furman University for one year on a football scholarship before moving to Elizabethton, Tennessee with his parents. In Elizabethton, Anderson met weightlifter Bob Peoples, who would greatly influence him in squat training and introduce him around weightlifting circles.[5]

Career

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." Palmer said, "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 Soviet champion, Alexey Medvedev, had matched the Olympic record of the time with a 330.5 pound press. Anderson then did a 402.5 pound press.

During the 1955 World Championships in Munich, Germany that October, Anderson went on to establish two other world records (for the press - 407.7 pounds - and total weight cleared - 1129.5 pounds) as he easily won the competition in his weight class to become world champion. Upon his return to the United States, Anderson was received by then Vice-President Richard Nixon, who thanked him for being such a wonderful goodwill ambassador.

In 1956, Anderson won a gold medal in a long, tough duel in the Melbourne, Australia Olympic Games as a weightlifter in the super-heavyweight class (while suffering from a 104 degree fever) with Argentine Humberto Selvetti in the amount of weight lifted, but because Anderson weighed in at 137.9 kilograms (304 lbs), was lighter than Selvetti, who weighed 143.5 kilograms (316 lbs), Anderson was awarded the gold medal.

Paul Anderson was later a quiz contestant on the 14 March 1957 television episode of You Bet Your Life, hosted by comedian Groucho Marx. [6]

Anderson could not compete in the 1960 Olympics because he had been ruled a professional for accepting money for some of his weight lifting and strength exhibitions. In the 1960 Olympics the Russian heavyweight Yury Vlasov beat Paul Anderson's records set at the 1956 Olympics. A short time later, not to be outdone by the Russian and to verify his position as World's Strongest Man, Anderson lifted the same weight as the Russian three times in quick succession demonstrating unbelievable strength.

Family life

In 1960, Paul Anderson married Glenda Garland. The couple were devout Christians. They had one child, Paula, born in 1966.

Paul Anderson Youth Home

Paul Anderson and his wife Glenda founded the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a home for troubled youth in Vidalia, Georgia in 1961. Paul and Glenda both helped to build and support the Home with an average of 500 speaking engagements and strength exhibitions per year—notwithstanding the chronic congenital kidney disease that eventually killed him at age 61. Paul was famous for strength stunts such as driving a nail with his bare fist and raising on his back a table loaded with eight men.

Guinness Book of Records

The Guinness Book of World Records (1985 edition) lists his feat of lifting 6,270 pounds (2844.02 kg) in a back lift as "the greatest weight ever raised by a human being".

Anderson turned professional after the 1956 Summer Olympics, and so many of his feats of strength, while generally credible, were not done under rigorous enough conditions to be official. Nevertheless, Guinness Book of World Records did cite him in its 1985 edition for a backlift of 6,270 pounds. This became the basis for his reputation as the "World's Strongest Man".

Death

As a child, Anderson suffered from Bright's Disease (now known as chronic nephritis), a kidney disorder, and he eventually died from kidney disease. While competing, he weighed between 275-370 lb[7] and was 5 feet 9.5 inches (1.765 m)[1] tall.[5]

Legacy

Paul Anderson's true life testimony can be heard as a dramatization through "Unshackled!" radio ministries on program number 2521. "Unshackled!" has also produced a comic booklet telling the story of Paul Anderson in addition to his radio dramatization.

Personal records

Official records

Olympic weightlifiting

done in official competition[1][7]

Unofficial lifts

Lift included in the Guinness Book of World Records This record has been expunged due to no official witness being present, and no evidence of the weight's measurement. (Source: "Guinness Book of World Records".)

→ listed as the greatest weight ever lifted by a human being[1]

Powerlifting

Guinness also listed Anderson's best powerlifts[1]

done in small exhibitions or training (according to Paul Anderson himself)[8]

Olympic weightlifting

best gym lifts (according to Paul Anderson himself)[1]

Other lifts

done in small exhibitions or training

Quotes about Anderson

What some of the greatest lifters in history have to say about Paul Anderson[9]

"I could do 310 in a standing one arm side press with a dumbbell, Paul could do it for reps with ease."
"Though I never met him personally until the Strength Symposium in Florida, I saw films of him lifting in his heyday, with such absolute ease it was astonishing. Using his strength to benefit others is something that should make all powerlifters proud. What a great benefactor to mankind."
"My love and respect for Paul runs deep. His ability to lift enormous weights in limited movements surpasses all. Those who attempt to discredit him shame our sport."
"He’s the King of Strength. His backlift was unbelievable. But more amazing was his total commitment as a Christian."
"Paul was an inspiration to me. Some of his feats may never be surpassed."
"Absolutely no question, Paul was the Strongest of the Strong. His physical deterioration and prolonged illness for the last 16 years of his life was fate unbefitting such a great strongman and humanitarian. Paul was really a powerlifter and did the overhead lifts only because Powerlifting as a sport did not exist 40 years ago. He excelled and was world and Olympic champ because he was far stronger than anyone else. When I hear people talk that a Powerlifter will never win an Olympic Gold Medal, I tell them that Paul Anderson already did it, almost forty years ago."

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Paul Anderson: Superman from the South by Jim Murray
  2. ↑ "U. S. Weightlifting Champions - Men (all weightclasses)". Hickok Sports.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  3. ↑ "Olympic Weightlifting On the Web!". LiftTilyaDie.Com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  4. ↑ "Toccoa". Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 American Strength Legends. Paul Anderson. posted at samson-power.com
  6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Strength Legacy of Strongman Paul Anderson by Charles Poliquin
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 PAUL ANDERSON article by Osmo Kiiha
  9. ↑ Paul Anderson - The Strongest Man in Recorded History! by Bill Hinbern

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Anderson (weightlifter).