Hans Claussen (weightlifter)

Hans Claussen (born September 5, 1911 in Lübeck , † July 21, 2001 in Grinau ) was a German weightlifter .

Career

Hans Claussen grew up in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck , learned the trade of a butcher and turned to wrestling and weightlifting at the sports club "Hansa-Germania" . He was relatively short and stocky build. For this reason he soon switched to weightlifting entirely. In 1934 he first caused a sensation when he became the North German lightweight champion (up to 67.5 kg body weight) with an outstanding 310 kg in the Olympic three-way battle. But it was not until 1937 before he really reached the top class of German weightlifters, who were among the absolute best in the world in those years. After a third place at the German championships, he was allowed to represent Germany at the world championships in Paris in 1937 in middleweight (up to 75 kg body weight) as a substitute for the injured German champion Rudolf Ismayr . He took a good 5th place. Hans Claussen had a brilliant international career ahead of him when the war and the post-war era destroyed all sporting ambitions. He continued to rise until 1955 and became German champion six times, but the top of the world was far, far away after the war. This can best be seen from the results of the three international matches between Germany and the USA in 1950. Hans Claussen was about 70 kg behind his competitor Stanley Stanczyk . These are worlds. In the 1930s, German weightlifters were the masters of the Americans, now, in the 1950s, it was the other way around. In 1952, at the age of 41, Hans Claussen started at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki and achieved an honorable 11th place. His age and the difficult living and training conditions in the young Federal Republic of Germany did not allow for a better result.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, Le = lightweight, Mi = middleweight, Ls = light heavyweight, Ms = middle heavyweight)

• 1937, 5th place , World Championship in Paris , Wed, with 332.5 kg, behind John Terpak , USA , 352.5 (102.5, 110.0, 140.0) kg, Adolf Wagner (weightlifter) , Germany , 340 (102.5, 105.0, 132.5) kg, Hans Valla, Austria , 340 (102.5, 105.0, 132.5) kg and Josef Hantych, Czechoslovakia , 335 kg;
• 1938, 6th place , WM in Vienna, Hs, with 342.5 kg, behind John Davis , USA , 387.5 (117.5, 120.0, 150.0) kg, Fritz Haller , Austria , 377.5 (107.5, 120.0, 150.0 ) kg, Louis Hostin , France , 372.5 (110.0, 117.5, 145.0) kg, John Grimek , USA, 365 kg and Wasif, Egypt, 355 kg;
• 1952, 11th place , Olympic Games in Helsinki , Ls, with 362.5 (102.5, 115.0, 145.0) kg, winner: Trofim Lomakin , USSR , 417.5 kg (125.0, 127.5, 165.0), ahead of Stanley Stanczyk , USA , 415 (127.5, 127.5, 160.0) kg and Arkady Vorobyov , USSR, 407.5 (120.0, 127.5, 160.0) kg

International battles

• 1950, versus USA, Ls, 335 kg, versus Stanczyk, 395 kg;
• 1950, versus USA, Ls, 335 kg, versus Stanczyk, 405 kg;
• 1950, versus USA, Ls, 342.5 kg, versus Stanczyk, 410 kg;
• 1952, against Austria, Ls, 355 kg, against Willi Pankl, 355 kg;
• 1952, against France, Ls, 352.5 kg, against Georges Firmin, 375 kg;
• 1952, against Austria, Ls, 332.5 kg, against Pankl, 355 kg

German championships

(1950 in the four-way fight, otherwise always in the Olympic three-way fight)

• 1936, 7th place , Le, with 302.5 kg, winner: Karl Jansen , Essen , 322.5 kg, ahead of Karl Schwitalle , Breslau , 317.5 kg;
• 1937, 3rd place , Wed, with 342.5 kg, behind Rudolf Ismayr , Freising , 362.5 kg and Adolf Wagner (weightlifter) , 350 kg;
• 1938, 3rd place , Wed, with 342.5 kg, behind Wagner, 355 kg and Ismayr, 350 kg;
• 1939, 3rd place , Wed, with 342.5 kg, behind Ismayr, 372.5 kg and Wagner, 367.5 kg;
• 1940, 3rd place , Wed, with 345 kg, behind Hans Valla, Vienna, 350 kg and Ismayr, 347.5 kg;
• 1941, 3rd place , Wed, with 332.5 kg, behind Wagner, 350 kg and Fritz Haller , Vienna , 335 kg;
• 1942, 1st place , Wed, with 350 kg, ahead of Ismayr, 340 kg and Valla, 330 kg;
• 1943, 1st place , Wed, with 337.5 kg, ahead of Ismayr, 325 kg and Vojtechowsky, Vienna, 307.5 kg;
• 1948, 1st place , Wed, with 347.5 kg, in front of Lemke, 1860 Munich, 310 kg and König, Fellbach, 292.5 kg;
• 1950, 1st place , Ls, with 422.5 kg (VK), ahead of Ernst Köhler , Weinheim , 397.5 kg and Erwin Tratz , Nuremberg , 395 kg;
• 1951, 1st place , Ms, with 355 kg, in front of Hans Rudershausen , Kreuznach , 322.5 kg and Mehrlein, Nuremberg, 322.5 kg;
• 1952, 1st place , Ls, with 342.5 kg, in front of Brössel, Marburg , 297.5 kg;
• 1953, 2nd place , Ms, with 332.5 kg, behind Rudershausen, 345 kg and in front of Herbert Kolle , Kassel , 330 kg;
• 1954, 3rd place , Ls, with 347.5 kg, behind Tratz, 355 kg and Günter Siebert , Leipzig , 352.5 kg

German records

in two-armed tearing:

• 115 kg, 1937, Wed,
• 116 kg, 1940, Wed,

in the Olympic three-way battle:

• 355 kg, 1951, Ms,
• 365 kg, 1952, Ms

swell

• Athletics magazine from 1934 to 1936 and 1949 to 1960
• Kraftsport trade journal from 1937 to 1939