Roger François (weightlifter)

Roger François 1928

Roger François (born October 9, 1900 in Romans-sur-Isère , Département Drôme , † February 16, 1949 ) was a French weightlifter . He became an Olympic middleweight champion in 1928 .

Life

Roger François started lifting weights after the First World War. He was a member of the Societé Athlétique Montmartroise Paris . In 1921 he competed in his first major competition, the championship in Paris, and in 1922 he was world light heavyweight champion (up to 82.5 kg body weight) in Tallinn . He competed three times at the Olympic Games, in 1924 in Paris, 1928 in Amsterdam and 1932 in Los Angeles . His greatest sporting success was winning the gold medal in Amsterdam. On October 21, 1927, François took part in the legendary international match between France and Germany and beat the Würzburg middleweight (up to 75 kg body weight) with 320 kg in the Olympic three-way battleFranz Zinner , who reached 312.5 kg. Between 1925 and 1927 there were no international championships where he could start. It was precisely in these years that he was at the zenith of his performance. After the French championships in 1929, he resigned, but dared to make a comeback to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932, where he achieved an honorable fourth place with the same performance that had brought him the Olympic victory in 1928.

Roger François died in 1949, only 48 years old.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, Mi = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight, OD = Olympic three-way fight, consisting of two-armed pushing, snatching and pushing, FK = pentathlon, consisting of the OD + one-armed pulling and one-armed pushing)

• 1922, 1st place , World Championships in Tallinn , Hs, FK, ahead of Johannes Tooms and Robert Thiane, both Estonia ;
• 1924, 5th place , OS in Paris , FK, Wed, with 442.5 kg, winner: Carlo Galimberti , Italy , 490 kg, ahead of Alfred Neuland, Estonia , 455 kg;
• 1928, gold medal , OS in Amsterdam , OD, Wed, with 335 kg, before Galimberti, 332.5 kg, August Scheffer, Netherlands , 327.5 kg and Franz Zinner , Germany , 322.5 kg;
• 1932, 4th place , OS in Los Angeles , OD, Wed, with 335 kg, behind Rudolf Ismayr , Germany, 342.5 kg, Galimberti, 340 kg and Karl Hipfinger , Austria , 337.5 kg.

French championships

Roger François became French middleweight champions in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1929.

World records

François has set all of his records in the middleweight division.

when pressing with both arms:

• 103.5 kg, 1928 in Paris .

in two-armed tearing:

• 95 kg, 1923 in Paris,
• 97.5 kg, 1923 in Paris.

in the Olympic three-way battle:

• 335 kg, 1928 in Amsterdam .

Web links

• Portrait on chidlovski.net (English)
• Roger François in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Illustrated Österreichischen Sporttageblatt (digitized edition) Roger Francois ("Roger") 1922