Charles Vinci was born 84 years ago
Charles Robert Vinci Jr was born 84 years ago on February 28th, 1933. He is the last US Olympic Champion who won the Gold Medal. One of the best lifters of all times won first time at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games then at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games in men’s bantamweight of 56 kg category. Born in Cleveland in the second half of the 50’s, he became Pan-American Champion. He won two Silver Medals at the World Championships (1955, 1958) and set 12 world records.
Hence, between 1954 and 1961 he earned several titles as Champion of the United States – only exception was the year of 1957. He started to practise weightlifting at the age of 12 and had hope for victory at his 3rd Olympic Games but during his exercise he had an unfortunate accident that put an immediate stop to his sport career. However he never stopped practising even after his heart bypass surgery. His daily motivation was: „Go to bed early. Get up early to train. Go to church.”
