Isaac Berger

Isaac Berger

Yoshinobu Miyake and Isaac Berger (right) at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Born	November 16, 1936 (1936-11-16) (age 80) Jerusalem
Height	1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight	59–60 kg
Sport
Sport	Weightlifting
Club	York Barbell Club
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne -60 kg 1960 Rome -60 kg 1964 Tokyo -60 kg World Championships 1957 Teheran -60 kg 1958 Stockholm -60 kg 1959 Warsaw -60 kg 1961 Vienna -60 kg 1963 Stockholm -60 kg 1964 Tokyo -60 kg Pan American Games 1959 Chicago -60 kg 1963 São Paulo -60 kg

Isaac "Ike" Berger (born November 16, 1936) is a retired weightlifter, who competed for the United States at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won one gold and two silver medals. He held eight world records (four official and four unofficial), and won the United States national title eight times.^[1][2]

Berger was born to a rabbi in Jerusalem.^[3] He immigrated to the United States when he was in his teens,^[4] and became a naturalized American citizen in December 1955.^[1]

Berger was the first featherweight in history to lift more than 800 pounds (360 kg), and the first to press double his body weight.^[5] He twice won the world championships and the Pan American Games.^[4] In his gold medal performance at the 1957 Maccabiah Games, Berger was the first (and only one until 1998) athlete to set a world record on Israeli land in any sport. He pressed 117 kilograms (258 lb).^[5]

Berger was named to the United States Weightlifters Hall of Fame in 1965,^[5] and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.^[3]

See also

• List of select Jewish weightlifters

References

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