John Grimek

John Grimek (born June 17, 1910 in Perth Amboy , New Jersey , † November 20, 1998 in York (Pennsylvania) ) was an American weightlifter and bodybuilder.

Career

John began as a teenager, animated by his older brother, with dumbbell training , which was initially only designed for bodybuilding. He attended the studio of Mark Berry, who also became his trainer for the next few years. In 1929 he first sent photos of himself to American muscle magazines, which were promptly published. They showed John what was new at the time in outdoor recordings. When the American weightlifters achieved their first successes at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932 ( Anthony Terlazzo ), he became more interested in weightlifting in the next few years and tried to improve his performance in this sport. At the instigation of Mark Berry, he increased his body weight from 85 kg to 102.5 kg and won the 1936 heavyweight title at the US Championships of the AAU with 357.5 kg. He then achieved this performance at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin . After these Olympics, he moved to York in the famous York Barbell Club to Bob Hoffmann. By the time of the World Championships in Vienna in 1938 , for which he qualified again, he had trained back to light heavyweight (up to 82.5 kg body weight). After these world championships he gave up weightlifting and just started as a bodybuilder.

In bodybuilding , he was the type of extremely powerful, well-proportioned athlete. He was only 1.74 m tall and weighed 88 to 90 kg as a bodybuilder. He was the first athlete to win the Mr. America title twice. His two victories over the phenomenal Steve Reeves were sensational.

John Grimek had worked as a journalist for the muscle magazine Strength & Health since the 1930s. In 1964 he switched to "Muscular Development" and did not stop there until 1985. Countless articles about bodybuilding emerged from his pen.

Career as a weightlifter

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, Hs = light heavyweight, S = heavyweight)

• 1935, 2nd place , USA Championship, FK, S, with 497.5 kg, behind Bill Good , 545 kg;
• 1936, 1st place , USA Championship, OD, S, with 357.5 kg;
• 1936, 2nd place , US Olympic elimination, OD, S, with 352.5 kg, behind Bill Good, 375 kg;
• 1936, 9th place , OS in Berlin, OD, S, with 357.5 kg, winner Josef Manger , Germany , 410 kg ahead of Václav Pšenička , Czechoslovakia , 402.5 kg;
• 1937, 1st place , Championship of New Jersey, OD, S, 345 kg;
• 1938, 1st place , North American Championship, OD, Hs, at 377.5 kg, ahead of John Davis (weightlifter) , 370 kg;
• 1938, 4th place , World Championships in Paris , OD, Hs, with 365 kg, behind John Davis , USA , 387.5 kg, Fritz Haller , Austria , 377.5 kg and Louis Hostin , France , 372.5 kg;
• 1939, 1st place , North American Championship, OD, Hs, with 370 kg;
• 1940, 3rd place , USA Championship, S, with 390 kg, behind Steve Stanko , 432.5 kg and Louis Abele, 415 kg

Bodybuilder career

• 1939, "York Perfect Man", before Elmer Farnham and Constantin Cosiras;
• 1940, "Mr. America", before Frank Leight and Ludwig Schusterich;
• 1941, "Mr. America", before Jules Bacon and Frank Leight;
• 1946, "Most Muscular Man in America", before Steve Stanko and Sam Loprinzi;
• 1948, "Mr. Universe" (NABBA), overall winner and medium winner, ahead of Steve Reeves and André Drapp;
• 1949, "Mr. USA" (AAU), before Clarence Ross, Reeves, George Eiferman and Armand Tanny

Web links

• John Grimek at www.classicbodybuilders.com