Competitions between strongmen 
go back thousands of years and 
can be found in legends and 
traditions all over the world.  
Dating back to the Greeks, our 
ancestors proved their manhood 
by lifting huge objects like rocks 
and boulders.  In Scotland, 
evidence has been found of 
"manhood stones", which were 
lifted and tossed to prove 
masculinity and leadership.  To 
this day, the lifting of stones is a 
popular pastime in the Basque 
provinces of Spain and France.

By the mid-1860s, weightlifting 
had become popular throughout 
Europe and athletic clubs for 
strongmen could be found all 
over the continent.  Weightlifting 
was included in the first modern 
Olympics in 1896.  At that time, 
weights were simple and could 
not be adjusted. Weightlifting took 
its present form at the 1928 
Olympics, when disc barbells 
appeared.

Currently, there are only two 
accepted styles of lift -- the 
snatch, where the weightlifter 
grasps the barbell with both 
hands palms downward and lifts 
the weights in one continuous 
motion, then raises the bar at 
arm's length over the head; and 
the clean-and-jerk, where the 
lifter clutches the bar with both 
hands palms down and lifts it in 
one movement to the shoulders, 
rests, and then lifts the bar over 
the head.  The Olympic 
competition is divided into ten 
categories of body weight.  Only 
men compete.

The legendary weightlifter Soviet 
Vasily Alekseyev, who tipped the 
scales at 337 lbs., set 80 world 
records from 1970 to 1977.  He 
won back-to-back Gold medals in 
1972 and 1976.