John Terpak

John Basil Terpak (born July 4, 1912 in Mayfield , Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania , † June 1, 1993 in York, Pennsylvania ) was an American weightlifter .

Career

John Terpak began lifting weights at the age of 18 and showed his good disposition as early as 1934 when he achieved over 300 kg in the Olympic three-way battle as a lightweight. Shortly before the Olympic Games in 1936, he already reached 335 kg and was therefore one of the favorites. At the games themselves, however, he then had to pay tribute to the heavy training. He was only fifth in the lightweight. After these Olympic Games, he moved up to the middleweight division and was among the world's best until 1948. From today's point of view incomprehensible, but quite common according to American customs at the time, he started at the Olympic Games in 1948 in the lightweight, i.e. two weight classes lower than in 1947, where he had become world champion in the light heavyweight division. This made it necessary to lose at least 10 kg. He was a very balanced lifter, with no specialty. For this reason, he did not succeed in setting a world record in his entire career.

John Terpak was President of the York Barbell Club and Chairman of the US Weightlifting Federation and also held leading positions in the IAAF, the international weightlifting association.

International success

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

• 1936, 5th place , OS in Berlin , Le, with 322.5 kg, winner Robert Fein , Austria and Mohamed Mesbah, Egypt , both 345 kg;
• 1937, 1st place , World Championships in Paris , Wed, with 352.5 kg, ahead of Adolf Wagner , Germany , 340 kg and Hans Valla, Austria , 340 kg;
• 1938, 3rd place , World Cup in Vienna , Wed, with 357.5 kg, behind Wagner, 367.5 kg and Rudolf Ismayr , Germany, 360 kg;
• 1946, 2nd place , World Championships in Paris, Wed, with 375 kg, behind Khadr Sayed El Touni , Egypt, 377.5 kg and in front of Frank Spellman , USA , 372.5 kg;
• 1947, 1st place , World Championships in Philadelphia , HS, with 387.5 kg, ahead of Keevil Daly , British Guiana , 370 kg and Vellamo, Finland , 367.5 kg
• 1948, 4th place , OS in London , Le, with 340 kg, behind Ibrahim Shams , Egypt , 360 kg, Attiah Mohamed, Egypt, 360 kg and James Halliday , Great Britain , 340 kg

US championships

1936 with 335 kg, Le - 1937 with 365 kg, Wed - 1938 with 357.5 kg, Wed - 1939 with 362.5 kg, Wed - 1940 with 362.5 kg, Wed - 1941 with 370 kg, Wed - 1942 with 362.5 kg, Wed - 1944 with 362.5 kg, Wed - 1945 with 352.5 kg, Wed

Web links

• John Terpak on the cover of Strength and Health magazine
• Another cover photo by John Terpak on strength and health magazine
• John Terpak in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )