Serge Reding

Serge Reding (born December 23, 1941 in Auderghem / Belgium , † June 28, 1975 in Manila ) was a Belgian weightlifter .

Career

Serge, who was born Serge Yvar Arthur Gerard and was given the name Reding by his mother's husband, who was not his birth father and who adopted him, grew up in Herbeumont in the Ardennes . The family later moved to Brussels and it was there that Serge first came into contact with weightlifting when he was sixteen . However, he did not begin systematic training until 1959 with the coach Wittenbol at the Schaerbeek weightlifting club. In 1961/62 he did his military service and then worked as a librarian in a library.

He continuously increased his performance in weightlifting. He set his first world record at the age of 28. In 1964, 1968 and 1972 he started at the Olympic Games, with winning the silver medal in 1968 being his greatest sporting success. In 1972, the competition in his weight class took place the day after the terrorist attack on the Israeli athletes, which also killed several weightlifters from the Israeli team that Serge knew well. He was so emotionally affected by this event that he had three failed attempts when pressing.

Serge Reding's first marriage was to a young Polish woman whom he had met while training in Warsaw . At the 1974 World Cup in Manila , he met a Filipino waitress, with whom he fell in love - his first marriage had since failed. He stayed in Manila for a long time and committed suicide in a hotel there on June 18, 1975.

Serge Reding was 172 cm tall and weighed between 140 and 145 kg in his best days.

International successes / all-around

year	space	competition	Weight class	Competition type	Results
1963	1.	Benelux championships	Super heavy	OD	with 437.5 kg
1964	3.	EM in Moscow	Super heavy	OD	with 452.5 kg (152.5-127.5-172.5), behind Juri Vlasow , USSR , 562.5 kg (190-165-207.5) and Károly Ecser , Hungary , 490 kg (170-140-180)
1964	10.	OS in Tokyo	Super heavy	OD	with 477.5 kg, winner: Leonid Schabotinsky , USSR, 572.5 kg (187-167.5-217.5), ahead of Yuri Vlasov USSR, 570 kg (197.5-162.5-210)
1965	2.	Moscow Grand Prix	Super heavy	OD	with 480 kg, behind Viktor Andrejew, USSR, 537.5 kg and in front of Károly Ecser, 460 kg
1965	4th	World Cup in Tehran	Super heavy	OD	with 505 kg, behind Leonid Schabotinski, 552.5 kg (185-165-202.5), Gary Gubner , USA, 545 kg (190-155-200) kg and Károly Ecser, 522.5 kg (177.5-155-190)
1966	3.	Riga Grand Prix	Super heavy	OD	with 512.5 kg, behind Leonid Schabotinsky, 545 kg and Stanislaw Batischew , USSR, 527.5 kg
1968	2.	EM in Leningrad	Super heavy	OD	with 527.5 kg (182.5-140-205), behind Leonid Schabotinski, 570 kg (190-167.5-212.5) and in front of Manfred Rieger , GDR , 525 kg (170-155-200)
1968	silver	OS in Mexico City	Super heavy	OD	with 555 kg (195-147.5-212.5), behind Leonid Schabotinsky, 572.5 kg (200-170-202.5) kg and in front of Joe Dube , USA, 555 kg (200-145-210), Manfred Rieger, 532.5 kg kg and Rudolf Mang , Federal Republic of Germany , 525 kg
1969	2.	World Cup in Sofia	Super heavy	OD	with 570 kg (202.5-152.5-215), behind Joe Dube, 577.5 kg (202.5-162.5-212.5,) and in front of Stanislaw Batischew, 570 kg (192.5-165-212.5), Manfred Rieger, 537.5 (180 -152.5-205) and Rudolf Mang, 535 kg
1969	1.	EM in Sofia	Super heavy	OD	Performances as in the world championship, since the same event, before Batischew, Rieger and Mang
1970	2.	World Cup in Columbus / USA	Super heavy	OD	with 590 kg (215-160-215), behind Vasily Alexejew , USSR, 612.5 kg (215-170-227.5) and in front of Kalevi Lahdenranta , Finland , 577.5 kg (195-172.5-210), Joe Dube, 577.5 kg kg and Manfred Rieger, 555 kg
1971	unpl.	World Cup in Lima	Super heavy	OD	Task due to Injury after tearing; Winner: Vasily Alexejew, 635 kg (230-170-235), ahead of Ken Patera , USA, 592.5 kg (212.5-167.5-212.5) and Iwan Athanasow, Ivan, Bulgaria, 532.5 kg (195-140-197.5)
1972	unpl.	OS in Munich	Super heavy	OD	after three invalid attempts in pressing; Winner: Wassili Alexejew, 640 kg (235-175-230) ahead of Rudolf Mang, 610 kg (225-170-215) and Gerd Bonk, GDR, 572.5 kg (200-155-217.5)
1973	1.	Friendship tournament in Tashkent	Super heavy	OZ	with 390 kg, before Gerd Bonk , 380 kg and Konowalow, USSR, 367.5 kg
1973	1.	EC cup tournament	Super heavy	OZ	with 390 kg, ahead of Kurt Stöwhase, Federal Republic of Germany, 340 kg
1974	3.	EM in Varna	Super heavy	OZ	with 400 kg, behind Vasily Alexejew, 422.5 kg and Gerd Bonk , 402.5 kg
1974	2.	World Cup in Manila	Super heavy	OZ	with 390 kg, behind Wassili Alexejew, 425 kg and in front of Jürgen Heuser , GDR, 382.5 kg

From 1964, World Cup medals were also awarded at the Olympic Games, and from 1969 medals could also be won in individual disciplines. For this reason Serge Reding won three gold, four silver and one bronze medals at world championships and three gold, two silver and four bronze medals at European championships

Explanations

• OD = Olympic three-way fight, consisting of two-armed pushing, tearing and pushing, OZ = Olympic single combat, consisting of two-armed tearing and pushing
• Super heavyweight, then over 110 kg body weight
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship

Medals individual disciplines

(awarded since 1969)

• World Cup gold medals: 1969, pushing, 202.5 kg - 1969, pushing, 215 kg - 1970 pushing 215 kg;
• World Cup silver medals: 1970, push, 215 kg - 1971, push, 227.5 kg - 1974, push, 220 kg:
• World Championship bronze medal: 1971, tear, 160 kg
• EM gold medals: 1969, pushing, 202.5 kg - 1969, pushing, 215 kg;
• EM silver medal: 1974, tear, 175 kg;
• European Championship bronze medal: 1974, pushing, 225 kg

World records

in two-armed tearing:

• 182.5 kg, 1973 in Brussels, p

when pressing with both arms:

• 215 kg, 1970 in Herbeumont, S,
• 218.5 kg, 1970 in Zewegem, S,
• 228 kg, 1971 in Lima , p

literature

Athletics magazine

Web links

• Serge Reding in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Picture gallery by Serge Reding

Footnotes

1. ↑ Fear of victory . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 , 1977 ( online ).
2. ↑ DOPING: jump out of the window . In: Der Spiegel . No. 20 , 1988 ( online ).