Václav Pšenička senior

Václav Pšenička

Václav Pšenička senior (born October 26, 1906 , † April 25, 1961 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovak weightlifter.

Career

Václav Pšenička grew up in Prague and started lifting weights as a strong young man. He was soon the best Czechoslovak light-heavyweight lifter and was sent to the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam . There he has not yet won a medal. But in 1932 and 1936 he won a silver medal at the Olympic Games. His big adversary from 1934 on was the German champion Josef Manger , whom he could only defeat once: at the European Championships in 1934, when Manger was still a beginner at the age of 20. After the Second World War he took great pleasure in his son Václav Pšenička junior , who was a multiple Czechoslovak weightlifting champion and was one of the best European weightlifters in his weight class.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, HS = light heavyweight, S = heavyweight)

• 1928, 5th place , OS in Amsterdam , HS, with 335 kg, behind Sayed Nosseir , Egypt , 355 kg, Louis Hostin , France , 352.5 kg, Verheyen, Netherlands , 337.5 kg and Jakob Vogt , Germany , 335 kg;
• 1929, 2nd place , EM in Vienna , HS, with 347.5 kg, behind Vogt, 350 kg and in front of Karl Bierwirth , Germany, 335 kg;
• 1931, 4th place , EM in Luxemburg , S, with 362.5 kg, behind Nosseir, 395 kg, Ries, Germany, 367.5 kg and Josef Straßberger , Germany;
• 1932, silver medal , OS in Los Angeles , S, with 377.5 kg, behind Jaroslav Skobla , Czechoslovakia , 380 kg and in front of Straßberger, 377.5 kg;
• 1934, 1st place , EM in Genoa , S, with 385 kg, ahead of Josef Manger , Germany, 382.5 kg and Straßberger, 382.5 kg;
• 1935, 3rd place , EM in Paris , S, with 382.5 kg, behind Manger, 395 kg and Ronald Walker , Great Britain , 382.5 kg;
• 1936, silver medal , OS in Berlin , S, with 402.5 kg, behind Manger, 410 kg and in front of Arnold Luhaäär , Estonia , 400 kg;
• 1937, 2nd place , World Championships in Paris , S, with 405 kg, behind Manger, 420 kg and in front of Heinz Schattner , Germany, 395 kg

National successes

Václav Pšenička was a total of 14 times Czechoslovak master in light heavy and heavyweight

World record

in the Olympic three-way fight

• 407.5 kg, 1936 in Prague, p

Web links

• Václav Pšenička senior in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )