Shane Hamman

Shane Hamman (born June 20, 1972 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), is a American Olympic weightlifter.

Early years

Shane Hamman began to play soccer at the age of 6 and would do so until he was 12 years old. In his freshman year of high school, Hamman began football and was a standout for two years on the freshman and varsity squads. He would also wrestle his junior year. Hamman grew strong lifting large pallets of produce for his father's fruit market. During high school, he had broken several teenage records. He trained as a powerlifter after high school, but after seeing the 1996 Summer Olympics, he decided to switch his career to Olympic-style weightlifting.

Life

Hamman is sometimes called the strongest man in America and was the first American to lift over 900 pounds (408 kilograms) in the two combined weightlifting events. Since 1997, with the exception of 2002, he has won a gold medal at every American Senior National Championship. From 2004 he holds every American weightlifting record in his class.

He competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics and finished 10th. In the qualifying for the Olympics, during the 2003 World Championships, on his final lift he single-handedly secured three spots for athletes from the U.S. in the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the Olympics, he finished 7th in his weight category, setting a new American record with his total of 430 kg and his clean and jerk of 237.5 kg.

Aside from his weightlifting prowess, Hamman also plays basketball and golf. Despite his 350 pound (160 kg) frame, he can hit a golf ball 350 yards (320 m), do a standing back flip, and leap vertically three feet (0.9 m).

Hamman currently lives in Edmond, Oklahoma with his wife Cristin. He has retired from Olympic weightlifting but will be at the next Olympics as an announcer for NBC.

Hamman is now focusing on helping others. He gives speeches at various high schools about his career and what it took to get Olympian status.

But his olympic lifting, being probably the greatest in the USA, Hamman also had incredible specific strength in squats, being possibly the strongest squatter in the world. His greatest squat was 457.5 kg at the IPF world championships, which is more than anyone has ever squatted in the IPF since now from 1972, and under the IPF's very strict rules, and relatively little powerlifting equipment as by the International Powerlifting federation.

External links

* [http://www.shanehamman.org Shane Hamman's Official Home Page]
* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_828.htm Shane Hamman's U.S. Olympic Team bio]
* [http://www.weightliftingexchange.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=39&topic=1099.0 Shane Hamman - Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange]