One of the most popular Greek athletes who has ever lived is weightlifting sensation Pyrros Dimas who, after winning three consecutive gold medals, finished his Olympic career with a bronze medal in 2004. Dimas, who routinely lifted more than three times his body weight during his prime, has won more Olympic medals in the sport of weightlifting than any athlete to date. Not bad for a guy who weighed only 185 pounds.
According to the Official Beijing Olympics Web Site:
"Pyrros Dimas was a member of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania and competed for Albania at the 1990 European Championships. The following year, he crossed the border and became a Greek citizen. Competing in the 82.5kg weight class at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Dimas finished with a lift total of 370 kilograms, as did Krzystof Siemion of Poland and Ibragim Samadov of Unified Team (ex-USSR). Samadov ranked third because he outweighed the other two by five grams, but Dimas and Siemion weighed exactly the same. A new tie-breaking rule awarded the gold medal to whichever lifter reached his final total first. This was Dimas, who gained Greece’s first Olympic weightlifting championship since 1904. After winning two of the next three world championships, Dimas entered the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as the world record holder. He did not disappoint his fans, as he broke the world record in both the snatch and the jerk and defeated Marc Huster of Germany by 9 kilograms. Going for a third Olympic title in 2000, Dimas missed his first two snatch attempts and was only in fourth place midway through the competition. He made up the deficiency in the jerk and, as in 1992, he ended up in a three-way tie, this time with Huster and Georgia’s Georgi Asanidze at 390 kilograms. Fortunately, he weighed 16 grams less than Huster and 64 grams less than Asanidze, so he did win his third gold medal. Dimas returned to the Olympics in Athens in 2004 and earned the bronze, after which he signalled his retirement by leaving his shoes on the platform, while the appreciative Greek crowd gave him a standing ovation."
Weightlifting career and personal bests
- Snatch: 180.5 kg
- Clean and Jerk: 215.0 kg
- Total: 392.5 kg (about 480 Sinclair Points)
- Olympic (full) Front Squat: 290.0 kg
- (Full) Back Squat: 330.0 kg
- Clean Pull: 230.0 kg
- Deadlift: 290.0 kg
Have a look at these videos of Pyrros Dimas lifting inhuman amounts of weight.
Also, check out this amazing video of Dimas, narrated by Dr. Randy Strossen of Ironmind Enterprises. This video was found at Iron Scene
Convert Those Pesky KG’s To Pounds:
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