Frank Spellman

Frank Spellman (born September 17, 1922 in Malvern , Pennsylvania , † January 12, 2017 ) was an American weightlifter .

Career

He started lifting weights relatively late, not until 1940. In 1942 he joined the US Army and served in Europe. Among other things, he was involved in the Allied invasion of Normandy . He survived the war unharmed and was honorably discharged from the Army in December 1945. He immediately restarted training and joined the Barbell Club in York , Pennsylvania. The successes came quickly, in 1946 he was the US middleweight champion with 375 kg in the Olympic three-way fight. In 1946 he also started at a world championship for the first time. The highlight of his career was his Olympic victory in London in 1948 . After this victory, he continued to lift for a few years and was able to occupy a few good places at US championships, but he did not succeed in qualifying for a major championship. In 1952 he even tried to qualify for the Olympic Games in Helsinki as a lightweight . He had also trained 8 kg of his body weight. He was also the second winner in the Olympic elimination with 347.5 kg behind the new star Tamio Kono , who lifted 360 kg, but was not nominated.

In addition to weightlifting, Frank Spellman was also an excellent powerlifter, especially in the bench press.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, Le = lightweight, Wed = middleweight)

• 1946, 3rd place , World Championships in Paris , Wed, with 372.5 kg, behind Khadr Sayed El Touni , Egypt , 377.5 kg and John Terpak , USA , 375 kg;
• 1947, 2nd place , World Championships in Philadelphia , Wed, with 375 kg, behind Stanley Stanczyk , USA, 405 kg and in front of Kim Sung-Jip, South Korea , 352.5 kg;
• 1948, gold medal , OS in London , 390 kg, ahead of Peter George , USA, 382.5 kg and Kim Sung-Jip, 382.5 kg.

National successes

Frank Spellman was American middleweight champion in 1946 with 375 kg, 1948 with 385 kg and 1961 with 360 kg.

American records

when pressing with both arms:

• 116.0 kg, 1946,
• 117.0 kg, 1948,
• 117.5 kg, 1950.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kevin Farley: Remembering Frank Spellman . Team USA, January 12, 2017, accessed January 14, 2017.

Web links

• Frank Spellman in Top Olympic Lifters of the 20th Century
• Frank Spellman in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )