Middleweight (≤75 kilograms), Men

American Pete George was the defending gold medalist, and had won silver in this class in 1948. He was World Champion in 1954 and 1955 and in 1953 had won the World title as a lightweight. He came to Melbourne as a slight favorite over Soviet lifter Fyodor Bogdanovsky, who had been second to George at the 1954-55 World Championships and held the world record. Bogdanovsky put George away early, with an Olympic record press of 132.5 kg, giving him a 10 kg lead, and George could never catch up, despite outlifting Bogdanovsky in the snatch. Bogdanovsky bettered his world record with 420.0 kg as George won the silver medal. The bronze medal went to Italian Ermano Pignatti, who had been 1951 European Champion and had won bronze medals at the 1952-53 Europeans and a silver medal in 1954. George’s brother, Jim, won a bronze medal in light-heavyweight weightlifting at Melbourne and would improve to a silver medal in that class at Rome in 1960.