Richard Leopold (weightlifter)

Richard Leopold (born May 1, 1909 in Eisenach ; † 1997 ) was a German weightlifter.

Career

Richard Leopold grew up in Erfurt and began lifting weights there in 1926. Soon he was the best Thuringian lifter in the light heavyweight class and from 1931 was also one of the best German weightlifters. Until 1939 he was at the forefront of many competitions and competed twice in European championships. The big success of becoming Olympic or European champions (world championships were not held at the time), however, did not succeed. In 1933 he reached a new world record with 89.5 kg in the one-armed tear on the left.

Richard Leopold was also a very good lawn and artistic athlete. After the Second World War he was GDR champion twice and did a great job of building up weightlifting in Thuringia and the GDR as a trainer and referee.

Richard Leopold was first a railroad worker and then a GDR transport policeman.

successes

International success

(EM = European Championship, OD = Olympic three-way fight, consisting of two-armed pushing, snatching and pushing, FK = pentathlon, consisting of the OD + one-armed snatching and one-armed pushing, Hs = light heavyweight)

• 1934, 4th place , EM in Genoa , Hs, OD, with 330 kg, behind Fritz Haller , Austria , 370 kg, Eugen Deutsch , Germany , 365 kg and Zemann, Austria, 342.5 kg;
• 1935, 4th place , EM in Paris , Hs, OD, with 330 kg, behind Louis Hostin , France , 370 kg, German, 357.5 kg and Haller, 340 kg

German championships

• 1931, 3rd place , Hs, OD, with 315 kg, behind Karl Bierwirth , Essen , 332.5 kg and Anton Gietl , Munich , 332.5 kg;
• 1933, 1st place , Hs, FK, with 495 kg, ahead of Karl Bierwirth, 490 kg and Anton Gietl, 480 kg;
• 1934, 2nd place , Hs, FK, with 525 kg, behind Eugen Deutsch , Augsburg , 542.5 kg and in front of Anton Gietl, 512.5 kg;
• 1935, 2nd place , Hs, OD, with 345 kg, behind Eugen Deutsch, 365 kg and in front of Duschka, Welzow , 337.5 kg;
• 1936, 4th place , Hs, OD, with 350 kg, behind Eugen Deutsch, 362.5 kg, Anton Gietl, 357.5 kg and Karl Bierwirth, 352.5 kg;
• 1937, 2nd place , Hs, OD, with 347.5 kg, behind Anton Gietl, 360 kg and in front of Karl Bierwirth, 347.5 kg;
• 1938, 1st place , Hs, OD with 357.5 kg, together with Fritz Haller , Vienna , 357.5 kg and in front of Theodor Heitzmann, Vienna, 340 kg

GDR championships

Richard Leopold was GDR champion in light heavyweight in 1951 and in heavyweight in 1952.

World records

(Note: world records in one-armed weightlifting are no longer held today, but were still very important until around 1950.)

• 89.5 kg, one-armed tearing left, light heavyweight (up to 82.5 kg body weight)

swell

Trade magazines "Athletik" from 1929 to 1936 and "Kraftsport" from 1937 to 1939