Gary Cleveland started lifting at the St. Louis Boys Club and later represented the York Barbell Club in Pennsylvania. He competed at the 1962 and 1963 World Championships, placing fifth in 1963. Cleveland won the AAU title in 1964 and 1965, after winning the AAU Juniors in 1960. Cleveland attended the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1966, after which he joined the Peace Corps and served in Ecuador. He later returned to Minnesota and spent over 25 years working as a systems analyst. In 1998 Cleveland won an individual gold medal in snow dance at the Tettegouche Winter Olympics. He later became a writer, writing First Principles of the Wisdom of Divine Avian Fluid Movement, based on the teachings of weightlifting pioneer Louis Cyr.
United States