Louis Martin (weightlifter)

Louis George Martin (11 November 1936 – 16 January 2015) was a British middle-heavyweight weightlifter.

Biography

Martin was born in Kingston, Jamaica, where he did some bodybuilding. In the mid-1950s he moved to the United Kingdom and started training in weightlifting.

At the 1958 Commonwealth Games he still represented Jamaica, but the next year he won a world title while competing for Great Britain. At the Summer Olympics, he won a bronze medal in 1960 and a silver medal in 1964; he failed in the last (clean and jerk) event in 1968. Between 1959 and 1965 he won four world and four European titles and set four world records, though only two became official.

He represented England and won a gold medal in the middle heavyweight division, at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia.

He went on to secure three consecutive gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, winning the gold in the middle heavyweight division at both the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica and the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In 2018, Martin was one of the first people to be commemorated by a plaque on Derby's walk of fame.

References

1936 births

2015 deaths

Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica

Jamaican male weightlifters

British male weightlifters

Commonwealth Games competitors for Jamaica

Weightlifters at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England

Weightlifters at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Weightlifters at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Weightlifters at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games

Olympic weightlifters for Great Britain

Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain

Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain

Weightlifters at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Weightlifters at the 1964 Summer Olympics

Weightlifters at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Olympic medalists in weightlifting

Emigrants from British Jamaica to the United Kingdom

Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics

Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting

Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games