Heavyweight (>90 kilograms), Men

John Davis was the defending gold medalist. He had won the World Championships as a light-heavyweight in 1938, and as a heavyweight in 1946-47 and 1949-51. He held the world record and came to Helsinki as the heaviest of favorites. He was so dominant that the Soviets refused to even enter a lifter in the class to oppose him. Although he did not approach his world record of 482.5 kg, Davis won the gold medal easily, with the best lift in each phase. He was trailed by his teammate Jim Bradford, who was 22.5 kg behind, and Humberto Selvetti, who won Argentina’s first Olympic weightlifting medal. Selvetti would return in 1956 and improve to a silver medal, while Bradford would win another silver medal, but wait eight years to do so, at Rome. Davis competed at the 1953 World Championships, losing for the only time in his career, to Canada’s Doug Hepburn, and then retired from lifting.