Charles Thomas Vinci Jr. (February 28, 1933 – June 13, 2018) was an American

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

and Olympic champion. Born in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, Vinci was the United States Senior National Champion from 1954 to 1956 and from 1958 to 1961. He received silver medals in the 1955 and 1958 world championships. He won gold medals at the 1955 and 1959 Pan American games. He won a gold medal at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

,"1956 Summer Olympics – Melbourne, Australia – Weightlifting"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on February 20, 2008) with a world-record three-lift (snatch, clean and jerk, overhead press) total of . Just prior to weighing-in, Vinci was 1.5 pounds overweight. After an hour of running and sweating, he was still seven ounces over the limit, but a severe last-minute haircut saw him make the weight limit. He won gold again at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

."1960 Summer Olympics – Rome, Italy – Weightlifting"
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on February 20, 2008) During his career, Vinci set 12 world records in the bantamweight class, between 1955 and 1960. He held records in '' snatch'', in ''

clean and jerk The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without rest ...

'' and in ''

press Press may refer to: Media * Publisher * News media * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press TV, an Iranian television network Newspapers United States * ''The Press'', a former name of ''The Press-Enterprise'', Riverside, California ...

'', as well as in ''total (3)''. He died in Elyria, Ohio at the age of 85.

References

External links

Chuck Vinci – Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange
* 1933 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from Cleveland American male weightlifters Weightlifters at the 1956 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in weightlifting Olympic medalists in weightlifting Weightlifters at the 1955 Pan American Games Weightlifters at the 1959 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in weightlifting World Weightlifting Championships medalists 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-weightlifting-bio-stub