Adolf Wagner (weightlifter)

Adolf Wagner medal table
Weightlifter
Germany
Olympic games
bronze	1936 Berlin	medium
World Championship
silver	1937 Paris	medium
gold	1938 Vienna	medium
European Championship
bronze	1934 Genoa	Light

Adolf Wagner (born June 27, 1911 , † April 9, 1984 ) was a German weightlifter.

Career

As a young man, Adolf Wagner started lifting weights in Essen at the end of the 1920s . He joined the VKSA Essen 88, where his role model Karl Bierwirth also started . In 1934 he started at the German and European championships for the first time. Until 1939 he was one of the top international lifters in the middleweight class. In 1936 he won an Olympic medal and in 1938 he became world champion. In 1947, barely released from captivity, he was already at the dumbbell again and after some time managed an astonishing 372.5 kg in the Olympic three-way fight, with which he set the German record in Rudolf Ismayr's OD. However, his attempt to qualify again for the Olympic Games in 1952 failed. He too had to pay tribute to age. In 1954 he became the national trainer of the German weightlifters and had taken on a very difficult position. At that time, German weightlifters had completely lost touch with the world's best as a result of the 12-year abstinence from 1939 to 1951. It was only slowly getting better. Adolf Wagner was only able to contribute little to this; major successes only emerged when younger coaches like Josef Schnell , who used more modern means, took the initiative in the mid-1960s .

His son Paul Adolf Wagner was later German champion in the 100 m sprint (relay) and sprint national coach.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, OD = Olympic three-way fight, FK = pentathlon, Wed = middleweight)

• 1934, 3rd place , EM in Genoa , OD, Le, with 295 kg, behind Robert Fein , Austria , 312.5 kg and René Duverger , France , 312.5 kg;
• 1936, bronze medal , OS in Berlin , OD, Wed, with 350 kg, behind Khadr Sayed El Touni , Egypt , 387.5 kg and Rudolf Ismayr , Germany, 352.5 kg;
• 1937, 2nd place , World Championships in Paris , OD, Wed, with 340 kg, behind John Terpak , USA , 350 kg and in front of Hans Walla , Austria, 340 kg;
• 1938, 1st place , World Championships in Vienna , OD, Wed, with 367.5 kg, ahead of Ismayr, 360 kg and Terpak, 357.5 kg (el Touni had three failed attempts in pushing);

Success at German championships

• 1934, 1st place in Nuremberg, FK, Le, with 450 kg, ahead of Richard Süssdorf, Homburg, 442.5 kg;
• 1935, 3rd place in Berlin, OD, Wed, behind Ismayr, 347.5 kg and Hans Gottschalk, Essen, 340 kg;
• 1936, 1st place in Essen, OD, Wed, ahead of Helmut Opschruf , Trier, 357.5 kg and Ismayr, 355 kg;
• 1937, 2nd place in Augsburg, OD, Wed, with 350 kg, behind Ismayr, 362.5 kg, in front of Hans Claussen , Lübeck, 342.5 kg;
• 1938, 1st place in Breslau, OD, Mi, with 355 kg, ahead of Ismayr, 350 kg and Claussen, 342.5 kg;
• 1939, 2nd place in Nuremberg, OD, Wed, with 367.5 kg, behind Ismayr, 372.5 kg, in front of Claussen, 342.5 kg;
• 1941, 1st place in Fellbach, OD, Wed, with 350 kg, ahead of Fritz Haller , Vienna, 335 kg and Claussen, 332.5 kg;
• 1949, 1st place in Regensburg, OD, Wed, with 335 kg, in front of Hans Schiweck, Berlin, 320 kg;
• 1951, 1st place in Sprendlingen, OD, Wed, with 332.5 kg, ahead of Edmund Danowski, Westerholt, 317.5 kg;
• 1952, 1st place in Meißen, OD, Mi, with 330 kg, ahead of Ismayr, 317.5 kg;
• 1953, 2nd place in Feuerbach, with 332.5 kg, behind Toni Leuthe, Fellbach, 335 kg.

For his many years of sporting success as a weightlifter, he received the Silver Laurel Leaf on November 13, 1955.

Web links

• Adolf Wagner, Top Olympic Lifters of the 20th Century
• Adolf Wagner in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• The Interesting Sheet (digitized edition) World Championship 1938: World Champion Adolf Wagner pushing with both arms

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Soptbericht the Federal Government of 29 September 1973, the Bundestag - Printed matter 7/1040 - on page 54.