Joe Puleo

Joseph "Joe" Robert Puleo (born July 2, 1942 in Detroit ) is a retired American weightlifter .

Career

Joe Puleo started lifting weights as a teenager . At the age of 19 he started at the USA championships for the first time and in 1962 set a new junior world record in jogging middleweight with 155 kg. He was a member of the famous York Barbell Club. Although he won the Olympic middleweight elimination of the American Weightlifting Association in 1964, he was not used in the 1964 Olympic Games. In 1968 he won the Olympic elimination in the light heavyweight division, but remained at the Olympic Games in Mexico City without a valid attempt in the first discipline. At the pre-Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1967, he proved that he belonged to the international top class of light heavyweights , when he finished second behind Norbert Ozimek from Poland , but ahead of Hans Zdražila from the CSSR . His victories at the Pan American Championships in São Paulo in 1963 and in Winnipeg in 1967 were his greatest successes.

Joe Puleo studied Marketing at the University of Baltimore ; he lives with his wife in Buckhead and works as a financial advisor for an Atlanta company .

International success

(Mi = middleweight, Ls = light heavyweight)

• 1963, 1st place , PanAm Games in São Paulo , Wed, with 400 kg, in front of Jose Figueroa, Puerto Rico , 387.5 kg and Pierre St. Jean, Canada , 375 kg;
• 1963, 1st place , North America. Championship, Wed, with 395 kg, ahead of St. Jean, 375 kg and Floyd De Spirito, USA , 370 kg;
• 1966, 1st place , North America. Championship, Ls, with 430 kg, ahead of B. Whitcomb, USA, 415 kg and Gerald Moyer, USA, 395 kg;
• 1967, 1st place , PanAm Games in Winnipeg , Ls, with 450 kg, ahead of Angel Pagan, Puerto Rico and St. Jean;
• 1967, 2nd place , Vorol. Games in Mexico City , Ls, with 472.5 kg, behind Norbert Ozimek , Poland , 475 kg and in front of Hans Zdražila , CSSR , 470 kg

USA championships

• 1960, 4th place , Wed, with 362.5 kg, behind Thomas Kono , 392.5 kg, Gary Cleveland , 387.5 kg and Jose Talluto, 367.5 kg;
• 1962, 1st place , Wed, with 397.5 kg, ahead of De Spirito, 385 kg and Don Cousino, 360 kg;
• 1963, 2nd place , Wed, with 390 kg, behind Masushi Ōuchi (guest), Japan, 405 kg and Bill Kowaloff, 370 kg;
• 1964, 1st place , Wed, with 412.5 kg, ahead of Kurt Jotzat, 392.5 kg and De Spirito, 385 kg;
• 1965, 2nd place , Ls, with 440 kg, behind Gary Cleveland , 447.5 kg and in front of Kono, 437.5 kg;
• 1966, 1st place , Ls, with 425 kg, ahead of B. Whitcomb, 400 kg and Kowaloff, 390 kg;
• 1967, 1st place , Ls, with 432.5 kg, in front of Gerald Moyer, 432.5 kg and Bob Hise, 420 kg;
• 1968, 1st place , Ls, with 465 kg, in front of Patrick Holbrook , 440 kg and Moyer, 435 kg;
• 1970, 2nd place , Ls, with 480 kg, behind Mike Karchut , 480 kg and in front of Holbrook, 472.5 kg

USA Olympic Eliminations

• 1964, 1st place, Wed, with 407.5 kg, ahead of De Spirito, 395 kg and Kowaloff, 372.5 kg;
• 1968, 1st place, Ls, with 475 kg, ahead of Hise, 447.5 kg and Holbrook, 445 kg

Web links

• Joe Puleo in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )