Blair Blenman

Blair Blenman took up weightlifting as a 20-year-old in his native Barbados to develop his physique because he weighed just under 50 kg at the time. It worked and he soon developed an affection for the sport, winning titles in his home-country prior to moving to England to live and work in October 1956. Blenman got a job as a bus conductor with London Transport at their Peckham depot where he taught weightlifting to fellow conductors and drivers to help with their fitness.

Blenman returned to the sport he took up in Barbados and in 1958 represented the Caribbean island at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff where he won the middleweight gold medal, the first Barbadian to win a Commonwealth Games title. He also had the honour of carrying the Barbadian flag at the opening ceremony, although it was still unsure at the time if Barbados had entered a weightlifting team!

Two years later Blenman went to the Roma Olympics as the reigning British and Commonwealth middleweight champion and also as holder of the British record of 365 kg. Unfortunately, he was eliminated in Roma without making a successful lift after three failed attempts to press 105kg because his lifting-style was ruled out by the judges.

Blenman represented Great Britain at the 1962 World Championships in Budapest and, like Roma two years earlier, he went to the Championships as the British middleweight title holder. Blenman retired from competitive weightlifting in 1965. His wife was also a keen weightlifter.