Isaac Berger - Biography

Isaac "Ike" Berger (born November 16, 1936, in Jerusalem) was an Olympic weightlifter for the United States.[1] He holds 23 world weightlifting records, and is a 12-time United States national titleholder.[2][3]

Early life

Berger, who is Jewish, came to the United States and become a naturalized citizen as a teenager. Berger is the son of a rabbi, and himself an ordained cantor.

Career

He was the first featherweight in history to lift more than 800 pounds, and the first to press double his body weight.

He won the U. S. featherweight championship seven times, from 1955 through 1961 and in 1964.[4]

He was world champion in 1958 and 1961, finishing second in 1957, 1959, and 1963.[5]

Olympics

He competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics. In the Featherweight class at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Berger won the gold medal with lifts totaling 352.5 kilograms (777 lb.).[6][7] Four years later he won a silver medal at the Rome Olympiad (362.5 kg, 799 lb).[8] In the 1964 Tokyo Games he again won the Featherweight class silver at 382.5 kg (843 lb).[9] His 1964 Olympic record of 152.5 kg (336 lb) in the clean and jerk, at a bodyweight of 130 pounds (59 kg), made him pound-for-pound the strongest man in the world, a record that stood for nine years.

Pan American Games

He was the Pan-American Games featherweight champion in 1959 and 1963.[10]

Maccabiah Games

Competing in the Fifth Maccabiah Games in 1957,[11][12] the year after winning his Olympic gold medal, Berger became the first athlete to establish a world record in the State of Israel, pressing 258 pounds (117 kg) in Featherweight competition.

Halls of fame

In 1965, Berger was elected to the United States Weightlifters Hall of Fame.

In 1980 he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Weightlifting achievements

• Olympic champion (1956).
• Silver medalist in Olympic Games (1960 and 1964).
• Senior world champion (1958 and 1961).
• Silver medalist in Senior World Championships (1959, 1963, and 1964).
• Bronze medalist in Senior World Championships (1957).
• Pan Am Games champion (1959 and 1963).
• Senior national champion (1955–1961, and 1964).
• Set eight world records during career.

See also

• List of select Jewish weightlifters

External links

• Isaac Berger – Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange
• Hickock sports bio
• Jewish Sports bio
• Jews in Sports
• [13]