Liftup reports that Norbert Schemansky has died

[Feng_Li]

He was 92. RIP.

Norbert Schemansky, Top Olympic Lifters of the 20th Century @ Lift Up

[Mark Rippetoe]

I got this email this morning. He was seriously underappreciated.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Yes. I stumbled on his internet biography a few years back when I was reading everything I could find about the split snatch. I can picture him: a milquetoast-looking fella in horn-rimmed glasses under a fucking heavy bar in a beautiful, graceful split, with his back knee about 2 nanometers above the floor. He was amazing.

[Daverin]

... I was afraid of this for a few days. Chidlovski, historian of Weightlifting that he was, had several articles on Schemansky, describing some of his career and his current life, and his recently worsening condition. Chid seemed to be one of the many outside of the USA who had heard of, and revered, Norbert... which was apparently too much for this country to do.

Underappreciated feels like it doesn't cut it. Honestly, I am positive that, were it not for his injury during 1956, he would have beaten out Michael Phelps in winning 5 medals in 5 Olympics... by 50+ years. He already had 4, after all. He was a constant presence during his time, and you can't go through any history of 1950s and 60s American weightlifting without the name of that man showing up. To many lifters in other countries that remember the past, he IS Mr. Weightlifting. And yet this country was too ungrateful to even greet him coming back from his trips.

There is a story, which I think I read from Chidlovski's site, of how he was preparing for the Olympics... and had to be fired from his job because his boss didn't want to give him time to compete. In the Olympics. For his country. During the heat of the Cold War. All this drama for our Olympic heroes, nationalism, pride, and love of celebrity... yet a guy who seemed to embody supposed American values dies with but a whisper heard only by a rather niche audience?

This sucks. I love reading about Schemansky, and I salute his accomplishments as a lifter, as well as having as much right as any athlete to be called an American Hero. Sure enough, I go looking through some popular sites for the American WL community... Nothing about him. Frankly, if ever you want to know what is wrong with American weightlifting, more than programs, athletes, doping, or any of that... it is the complete and utter lack of pride in its own history. The fact that one of our greatest weightlifters dying isn't massive news WITHIN OUR OWN WEIGHTLIFTING COMMUNITY... saddens me greatly.

Rest in Peace Norbert. You were a champion, an icon for weightlifting, and the feats of strength AND grace that you performed stand to this day for their merit. Hopefully the afterlife treats you better than this country did.

Also, fun fact! Based on what I could gather on the history of the Press in the Olympics, Norbert may have been one of the absolute first lifters to realize that you could start bolt upright and then suddenly switched into the first bow. Before and during his competitive years, most lifters would assume the first bow and hold it until they were ready to press. I have actually read one article that suggests that the supposed "Polish Press", as the late 60s style came to be called, came about because the Polish lifters, who admired Polish-American Schemansky, picked up on his tendency to suddenly go in and out of the first bow to get more out of it, and refined that technique to the blazing fast series of motions that we can see in the likes of Serge Reding.

In short, Norb was one of the first guys to perform the hip extension the way it is currently taught in the book. So, if you press like the current model suggests, know you are in pretty good hands.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Excellent post, Daverin. My thanks.

Norbert Schemansky | Marty Gallagher

[Christopher John]

Sad news. He had extremely impressive longevity as a lifter.

[Daverin]

Excellent post, Daverin. My thanks.

My pleasure Ripp. I don't know what it is, but there is something about the late 50s and 60s weightlifters that makes it a treat to learn about them.

And good God. You could not convince me, for all the world's riches, that a man the size of Schemansky, with his fucking gigamonsterous legs, could possibly have that deep and beautiful a split stance without photographic evidence. Kind of makes it clear why we moved on to squat styles though: He is a good image of just how damn committed you have to be to make a split get deep enough to be competitive. And although a high split like in the jerk can feel "easy" to recover from compared to powering or squatting out of it... but that deep a split must have been a nightmare to have the strength to recover from.

[MWittmer]

Reportedly, he refused credit for a snatch, that was passed, because he touched his knee. I do not recall if it was a record or not. Mr. Integrity.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Mike, I heard that Norb was at a meet in Florida a few years ago, and that none of the kids lifting in the meet knew who he was, or would engage with him when they were told. You have any info on that?

[MWittmer]

Mike, I heard that Norb was at a meet in Florida a few years ago, and that none of the kids lifting in the meet knew who he was, or would engage with him when they were told. You have any info on that?

No, I don't. But I would not doubt it. It's like that for all sports. I suppose there isn't anyone to teach them history. My son knew who these guys were. When he was very young, we spent time between sets going through old S&H, IOL and Iron Man. Plus, we have a picture of him on the wall in the basement.

As as for engaging him, I wonder if it would have been out of respect, after being informed who he was, or because they didn't care. My son would not approach the greats, he met Kono, a few times. Joe Dube used to show up at meets, Jeff was pretty excited when Joe asked to get his picture taken with him.