Josef Steinbach

Born in Bohemia, Josef Steinbach was 15 when he moved to Vienna where he began his weightlifting career in 1898. He quickly became the greatest Austrian lifter and in 1900 was judged the champion of the association of Austrian athletic clubs. In 1902 he won the Austro-Hungarian championship and in 1904 he won the world weightlifting championship for the first time. In 1905 he was world champion twice, as three competitions were held that year, one in Berlin, and another in Duisburg, Germany.

At the 1906 Olympics, he lost the two handed event because he was unfamiliar with the prescribed lifting style and earned the silver medal, but took revenge in the dumbbell contest, winning the gold medal. Steinbach was consistently distracted by the crowd during his attempts in the two handed event and did not manage the weight. He was so enraged that he abstained from a third try. He was also a member of the Austrian tug-of-war team finishing fourth, and last, after defeats by Germany (2-0) and Sweden (2-0).

After the Games Steinbach turned professional, mainly as a wrestler, although he continued to perform exhibition weightlifting as a professional. In 1910 he issued a challenge to the well-known strong man, Arthur Saxon, to compete against him for the professional weightlifting championship of the world. The challenge was issued repeatedly, and published in several popular physical culture magazines of the time, but Saxon never responded to the challenge, obviously fearing Steinbach in such an event.

Steinbach died in Vienna on 15 January 1937. Later that year a huge granite monument was erected in his honor from a fund raised from Austrian and German weightlifters and wrestlers.