Quickie History: Edward Levy, Winner of the World’s First International Weightlifting Competition

Jamie Chaos

June 15, 2021

Quickie History: Edward Levy, Winner of the World’s First International Weightlifting Competition

Edward Lawrence Levy (born 21 December 1851 – May 1932) was a British weightlifter who won the world’s first official international weightlifting competition (and the first British Amateur Weightlifting Championship), held in March of 1891 over three days (the other being held two months prior). Levy, a Jewish Mason who founded the Amateur Gymnastics Federation in Great Britain and Ireland was also a brewer, journalist, and an active member of the imperialistic right wing political machine in Britain at the time (ostensibly to support the Zionist movement).

Levy lifted out of the Birmingham Athletic Club, a private athletic club for men founded in 1866 that was integral in the formation of the modern Olympics, having heavily promoted and dominated the field at the 1867 National Olympian Games (the direct predecessor to the modern Olympics). A member of the Muscular Judaism movement like the bizarre, pint-sized showman Mighty Atom Joe Greenstein and the ripped-but-tiny bodybuilding-obsessed gold medalist in weightlifting Ike Berger, the forty-year-old Levy set 14 world records in the brand-new sport of weightlifting.

And lest you think that competition was anything like the ones today, think again- the meet consisted mostly of repetition and alternate pressing with 56 or 84 pounds in each hand, and Levy refused to compete in the single barbell event, which was a continental and press for reps with 180 lbs. It being Britain at the end of the 19th century, most people were too small and weak to even continental 180lb to their shoulders, never mind press the thing, and only three lifters managed to put that dead weight (this was done without a rotating barbell and with a combination of globe weights and plates) overhead.

Though it is said that this meet marked the shift from circus and vaudevillian strongman contests (in which lifters almost invariably cheated), it was likely the one that occurred a few months later in Vienna, Austria that truly marked that shift, as it boasted some of the best lifters on the planet (and a few unofficial world record holders) and primarily contested barbells over dumbbells or strongman implements.

Wilhelm Türk (1857-1920) of Austria won the other “first” international lifting competition at a bodyweight of 117.5kg/259lbs, defeating the legendary George Hackenshmidt in the process. As those results were unofficial (regulating bodies for new sports don’t exist until someone creates them), a second meet was held in 1901 with the same outcome- Wilhelm Turk as the winner with a world record continental-and-press of 160kg, just shy of 20kg heavier than the second place finisher. According to David Willoughby, “Karl “Swoboda, like Türk, Steinbach, Grafl, and other amateur weightlifters in Germany and Austria prior to the year 1912, was, as previously mentioned, an exponent of the German or “Continental” school of lifting. under this system, heavy two-arm lifts to the shoulders were performed not in one clean movements,, as is in vogue today, but by first lifting the belt onto the buckle of a specially designed, padded belt. Then, with a second heave, the bar was taken from the waist to the shoulders. Sometimes, even more than two tempos were used, but two was considered the maximum for ‘good’ form. Thus, there was a basic difference between the Continental two arm lifts and those performed under the strict French ruling, which permitted only ‘clean’ or ‘clear’ (or clear of the body) shouldering. In pressing, the Continental or unrestricted style permitted two movements in taking the barbell to the chest and unlimited back-bend in the press” (Willoughby 88). Additionally, the two differed in that the über-fat, käsekrainer-and-beer stuffed Austrian lifters couldn’t actually snatch a barbell because their prodigious guts were in the way- their numbers are thus low because they swung that motherfucker into place- that’s why turn-of-the-century Blob-like superman Karl Swoboda only boasted a 231lb snatch against a 452lb double in the jerk.

Sources:

Bonini, Gherardo. Once upon a time: when Vienna was the city of the strongest men, part 1. Playing Pasts. 15 Mar 2021. Web 15 Jun 2021. https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/articles/physical-culture/once-upon-a-timewhen-vienna-was-the-city-of-the-strongest-menpart-1/

Chidlovski, Arthur. Wilhelm Turk: World Champion (1898). Live Journal. 20 Apr 2019. Web. 15 Jun 2021. https://chidlovski.livejournal.com/1147654.html

Edward Lawrence Levy. Wikipedia. Web. 15 Jun 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lawrence_Levy

Harris, Luke J. Birmingham’s first Olympics: the 1867 National Olympian Games. 4 Jan 2018. Web. 15 Jun 2021. https://www.playingpasts.co.uk/articles/general/birminghams-first-olympics-the-1867-national-olympian-games/

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Jamie Chaos

I am a former all-time, all federation world record holder in raw powerlifting at 181lbs, a record I broke just to say fuck you to the internet’s “lifting” community and the powerlifting community at large. Over the last ten years I’ve written over 500 articles on strength training, nutrition, and supplementation, and continue to do so simply to fight the tide of weakness and sadness that currently pervades the scene I’ve called home for the better part of three decades. I’ve got personal trainin certs, BodyPump and BodyCombat certs, a BA in History and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, and MBAs from the Vienna University and University of South Carolina on my side, in addition to some sick lifts and a hell of a lot of rage. What the fuck have you got?

4 responses to “Quickie History: Edward Levy, Winner of the World’s First International Weightlifting Competition”

Jon

June 15, 2021

“their prodigious guts were in the way”…hahaha, those guys looked like stuffed bags.
In competion in 1910 Maxick jerked 320, most other top-tiers numbers(even in the upper weight classes) were not as impressive in the oh department.
Swoboda’s 452 lb is legit under the same conditions?
I would like to know the best overhead lifts of the era, sometimes it is hard to get the facts against the boasts.
Viva Steve!

June 16, 2021

I listen to this lad every day, not a great lifter as yet, just motivational I think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCtoF_zfl5s&ab_channel=IvanDjuricIvanDjuric
Not_HenryKrinkle

June 17, 2021

As far as I know in the early 1900s lifters were still doing Split Snatches which probably wouldn’t have helped Swoboda too much either.
1. Jamie Chaos
  
  June 17, 2021
  
  They had to have done the swing with their feet planted, right? Otherwise it’d be impossible to catch- you’d just tear your shoulders out of the sockets.