Mahmoud Namjoo ( fa, محمود نامجو, September 22, 1918 – January 21, 1989) was an Iranian bantamweight

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

. He competed at the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics and placed fifth, second and third, respectively. At the world championships he won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals between 1949 and 1957, becoming the first Iranian weightlifter to win a world title. Namjoo was also the first Asian weightlifter to set a world record; during his career he set four: one 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 re ...

in 1949 and three in the total, in 1948, 1949 and 1951. Namjoo was born in Rasht in 1918 and in 1937 moved to Tehran, where he worked at a carpentry workshop. He took weightlifting in a gym nearby. Besides weightlifting he also competed in bodybuilding, and won the Mr. Universe title in his weight division in 1948, placing fifth in 1955. In 1956 he spent two months working as a weightlifting coach in Turkey. He continued training in his forties and unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the 1960 Olympics. He died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of panc ...

aged 70.

References

1918 births 1990 deaths World Weightlifting Championships medalists Iranian male weightlifters Iranian strength athletes Iranian bodybuilders Olympic weightlifters of Iran Olympic silver medalists for Iran Olympic bronze medalists for Iran People from Rasht Weightlifters at the 1948 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1952 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1956 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Iran Asian Games silver medalists for Iran Olympic medalists in weightlifting Asian Games medalists in weightlifting Weightlifters at the 1951 Asian Games Weightlifters at the 1958 Asian Games Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1951 Asian Games Medalists at the 1958 Asian Games {{Iran-Olympic-medalist-stub