Austrian weightlifter Karl Hipfinger competed at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics as one of the favourites but was not able to finish the middleweight competition due to an injury. He went on to win a middleweight bronze medal at the 1932 Games.
Hipfinger set eight world records in the middleweight and light-heavyweight classes; six in the clean & jerk, one in the snatch, and one in the middleweight total in 1927. A policeman by profession, he was European Champion in 1929 in his hometown of Wien (Vienna), and was placed third in 1930 and 1934. He only missed the podium in 1935 because of his heavier bodyweight. Hipfinger’s first Austrian Championship came in 1926 in the middleweight class, and he won five more national titles in 1927, 1929-32.