Isaac Berger: Biography, Facts and Career

Isaac "Ike" Berger (Hebrew: יצחק ברגר; November 16, 1936 – June 4, 2022) was an American weightlifter, in the featherweight division, who competed for the United States at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won one gold and two silver medals. He held eight world records (four official and four unofficial), and won the United States national title eight times. In the highest level international competition, he was world featherweight (60 kg) champion in 1958 and 1961, and was the runner-up for that title in 1957, 1959, and 1963. Berger was born to a rabbi in Jerusalem, where he studied in a yeshiva. In addition to working as a rabbi, his father made a living as a diamond setter. Isaac and his family immigrated to New York in 1949 when he was thirteen, and he became a naturalized American citizen in December 1955. Around 1952, Berger started lifting weights at Schaffer's Gym in Brooklyn. He studied auto mechanics for three years at East New York Vocational School, and later studied voice and trained to be a cantor in a synagogue. As a young man, Isaac spent time in playgrounds, doing acrobatics, playing softball, basketball, and even boxing at the Hebrew Educational Alliance in New York. Berger was the first featherweight in history to lift more than 800 pounds (360 kg), and the first to press double his body weight. He twice won the world championships and the Pan American Games. In 1955, at nineteen, he won the senior United States weightlifting title, which he won again in 1956 and 1957. In his gold medal performance at the 1957 Maccabiah Games, Berger was the first (and until 1998 the only) athlete to set a world record on Israeli land in any sport. He pressed 117 kilograms (258 lb). His gold medal was presented to him by Israel Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who called him the "Gibor Yehudi" or "Mighty Jew".

Quick facts about Isaac Berger

• Full name: Isaac Berger
• Born: 1936-11-16
• Nationality: United States
• Known as: Creator
• Wikidata ID: Q1673377

Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.