Louis Martin (weightlifter)

Louis Martin
Personal information
Surname:	Louis George Martin
Nationality:	United Kingdom
Date of birth:	November 11, 1936
Place of birth:	Kingston , Jamaica
Date of death:	17th January 2015
Place of death:	Derby , UK
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 1 × 1 × World Championship 4 × 1 × 0 ×

Louis George Martin (born November 11, 1936 in Kingston , Jamaica , † January 17, 2015 in Derby , Derbyshire ) was a British weightlifter .

Career

Louis Martin grew up in Jamaica and came to England when he was 19 . There he played cricket in school and did bodybuilding . He didn't start lifting weights until he was 22, but he was already in excellent physical shape. Since his talent was recognized early on, he got all the support from the British Weightlifting Association. His coach was the British association coach Al Murray. In 1959 he won his first British championship and surprised the entire world elite at the world championship of the same year, which took place in Warsaw; he won the middle heavyweight title (up to 90 kg body weight). Until 1966 he started with great success in international championships and was world champion three times. But he never succeeded in becoming an Olympic champion. A silver and a bronze medal were his yield at the 1960 and 1964 games.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM 0 World Championship, EM = European Championship, Ms = middle heavyweight)

• 1959, 1st place , WM + EM in Warsaw , Ms, with 445 kg, in front of Arkadi Vorobjow , USSR , 445 kg and Czeslaw Bialas , Poland , 425 kg;
• 1960, bronze medal , OS in Rome , Ms, with 445 kg, behind Vorobjow, 472.5 kg and Trofim Lomakin , USSR, 457.5 kg;
• 1961, 2nd place , WM + EM in Vienna , Ms, with 462.5 kg, behind Ireneusz Paliński , Poland , 475 kg, and in front of Worobjow, 457.5 kg;
• 1962, 1st place , British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth , Ms, with 470 kg, ahead of White, Canada, 407.5 kg and Samuel, Trinidad, 400 kg;
• 1962, 1st place , WM + EM in Budapest , Ms, with 480 kg, ahead of Paliński, 470 kg and Bill March , USA , 460 kg;
• 1963, 1st place , WM + EM in Stockholm , Ms, with 480 kg, before Paliński, 475 kg and Eduard Browko , USSR, 470 kg;
• 1964, silver medal , OS in Tokyo , Ms, with 475 kg, behind Vladimir Golowanow , USSR, 487.5 kg and in front of Paliński, 467.5 kg;
• 1965, 1st place , EM in Sofia , Ms, with 485 kg, ahead of Kalinitschenko, USSR, 465 kg and Tatschew, Bulgaria , 452.5 kg;
• 1965, 1st place , World Championships in Tehran , Ms, with 487.5 kg, ahead of Golowanow, 480 kg and Géza Tóth , Hungary , 462.5 kg;
• 1966, 1st place , British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston , Ms, with 462.5 kg, ahead of Manners, England, 430 kg and Lawson, Jamaica, 422.5 kg;
• 1970, 1st place , British Commonwealth Games, Ms, with 457.5 kg, ahead of Robert Santavy, Canada, 425 kg and Manners, 410 kg.

World records

(all achieved in middle heavyweight)

in two-armed thrusting:

• 190.5 kg, in Tehran in 1965 .

in the Olympic three-way battle:

• 480 kg, 1962 in Budapest ,
• 487.5 kg, in London in 1965 .

Web links

• Louis Martin in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Louis Martin on letter "M"
• Louis Martin in Top Lifters of the 20th Century
• Louis Martin on the cover of Health and Strength magazine

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Weightlifter Louis Martin dies, aged 78