Schemansky, Norbert
Weightlifting
b. May 30, 1924, Detroit, MI
The only weightlifter ever to win four Olympic medals, Schemansky was the middle heavyweight champion in 1952. As a heavyweight, he won a silver medal in 1948 and bronze medals in 1960 and 1964. He was also the gold medalist as a heavyweight at the 1955 Pan-American Games.
Schemansky won nine AAU national championships, in the middle heavyweight division from 1951 through 1953 and as a heavyweight in 1949, 1954, 1957, 1962, 1964, and 1965. He was the world middle heavyweight champion in 1951, 1953, and 1954.
He set a world record of 362 pounds in the snatch during a 1952 competition and in 1964 he became the first American to lift a total of 1,200 pounds.