Post by Tim Wescott on May 9, 2004 12:36:10 GMT -5
Ken Patera was one of the strongest American Olympic weightlifters that ever lived..... without a doubt!
It`s very hard to find info about Patera`s lifting all you can find easily is about his wrestling career.
Thanks to Old School Strengthg Training for this info!
Ken was one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. In the powerlifts he did 820sq, 560 bench, 785 dead. Throw in 505-385-505 in the then three olympic lifts, an unofficial 535 press off rack, a picture (circa 1970-1972) of him jerking 518 off the racks, a 512 clean in competition, a 404 sn in training, a 68 foot shot put and on and on and you see why he was such a great strength athlete. He was not however the greatest of coaches and he was self coached essentially. Therein led to his overtraining problem.
As far as the Munich Games. That massacre had an effect on everyone that was there - let's not forget at least two people associated with wl died in those tragic events and the fact that one of those was an American doesn't get mentioned enough. But let's also realize that referees calls on presses were essentially along the lines of the Cold War and Patera did have 512 cleaned and pressed. He had also had 404 over his head in the training hall in the snatch. I believe he missed 363, 385, 385. Had he made the press (512) and one snatch (363), and even only his probable opener 462 cj, that would have given him 1338 total (607.5 kilos). Alexeyeev did 640 and second and third were 610 and 570 kilos total. So, at a minimum Patera was in a dogfight for second. Had he made the same 512 in the cj that he should have been creditted with in the press and snatched the 385 he had made before, he was looking at 1409 or the same 640 as Alexeyeev. He was a very strong man.
Bruce Wilhelm stated to Dave Willougby in an Iron Man article on specific strength feats quite a number of years back that Patera in the summer of 1972 did a strict press behind the neck of 374x3 and a single with 407. Other lifts from "reliable" sources stated he did a power clean of 440, and a strict 45 degree incline of almost 500. In a 1969 Iron Man article/interview Patera after defeating Dube in the 69 Seniors gave his 45 Incline as a strict 425, strict bench press with a shoulder width grip of 505, and a full back squat of 710.This was when he was about 295 pounds and far from his peak strength (332lbs.) some three years later. There is a picture of him in a 1970 S&H push jerking 518 from the rack in Columbus during training just before the 70 Worlds.
It`s very hard to find info about Patera`s lifting all you can find easily is about his wrestling career.
Thanks to Old School Strengthg Training for this info!
Ken was one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. In the powerlifts he did 820sq, 560 bench, 785 dead. Throw in 505-385-505 in the then three olympic lifts, an unofficial 535 press off rack, a picture (circa 1970-1972) of him jerking 518 off the racks, a 512 clean in competition, a 404 sn in training, a 68 foot shot put and on and on and you see why he was such a great strength athlete. He was not however the greatest of coaches and he was self coached essentially. Therein led to his overtraining problem.
As far as the Munich Games. That massacre had an effect on everyone that was there - let's not forget at least two people associated with wl died in those tragic events and the fact that one of those was an American doesn't get mentioned enough. But let's also realize that referees calls on presses were essentially along the lines of the Cold War and Patera did have 512 cleaned and pressed. He had also had 404 over his head in the training hall in the snatch. I believe he missed 363, 385, 385. Had he made the press (512) and one snatch (363), and even only his probable opener 462 cj, that would have given him 1338 total (607.5 kilos). Alexeyeev did 640 and second and third were 610 and 570 kilos total. So, at a minimum Patera was in a dogfight for second. Had he made the same 512 in the cj that he should have been creditted with in the press and snatched the 385 he had made before, he was looking at 1409 or the same 640 as Alexeyeev. He was a very strong man.
Bruce Wilhelm stated to Dave Willougby in an Iron Man article on specific strength feats quite a number of years back that Patera in the summer of 1972 did a strict press behind the neck of 374x3 and a single with 407. Other lifts from "reliable" sources stated he did a power clean of 440, and a strict 45 degree incline of almost 500. In a 1969 Iron Man article/interview Patera after defeating Dube in the 69 Seniors gave his 45 Incline as a strict 425, strict bench press with a shoulder width grip of 505, and a full back squat of 710.This was when he was about 295 pounds and far from his peak strength (332lbs.) some three years later. There is a picture of him in a 1970 S&H push jerking 518 from the rack in Columbus during training just before the 70 Worlds.