Harold Cleghorn

:: 1/29/2017: Dominick, Quebec City Quebec, Canada
He is one of those forgotten competitors. During the 1954 Games, he felt he didn't lived up to his potential: he had just found out that increasing his training poundages in the strength exercises, especially the squat, did a lot to improve his total. Back then, some lifters didn't even squat, and a lot of them thought doing reps at or above 300 lbs was enough. Cleghorn saw a very good improvement once he was using 500+ for reps. Today, if a Superheavyweight is strong enough to squat 400 kilos, the coaches will have him just maintain strength and focus on efficiency. But in 1954, the poundages lifted in competition required a minimal squatting strength of 200 or 220 kilos (to avoid loss in efficiency), and a lot of lifters did not fully realise this. John Davis was a VERY strong squatter in those years, and that's part of the reasons he dominated the field in his prime. I think there should be a 120-kilo weight class in today's Weightlifting. Cleghorn was a 110-kilo Superheavyweight back then... and he would still be a Superheavy if he competed today.

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