Alf Knight

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameAlfred Charles "Alf"•Knight
Used nameAlf•Knight
Born5 May 1918 in Northampton, England (GBR)
Died19 July 2000 in Northampton, England (GBR)
Measurements99 kg
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Alf Knight started weightlifting at the age of 16 and, by the time he was 18, was billed as “Britain’s Strongest Youth”. In 1938 he defeated the British light-heavyweight champion Don Ward in a challenge match at Watford, and lifted 727 lbs (330 kg). It was the heaviest weight ever recorded in Britain at the time. The following year, Knight made his international début against France, and was then selected for the cancelled 1940 Olympics. He was posted to India with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) shortly after the outbreak of World War II. During his time with the RAOC, he engaged in wrestling contests with local Indians in an effort to keep fit. Demobilised in 1946, he went on to win the first of three consecutive British heavyweight titles the following year.

Knight finished fourth in the heavyweight class at the 1948 London Olympics. That same year he won a silver medal in the unlimited class at the European Championships, and just one week after the Olympics, won the heavyweight title at the first ever Empire Weightlifting Championships in London. He continued winning titles 20 years after taking up the sport, when he won the 1954 Midlands heavyweight title. In 2009, nine years after his death, the Northampton Council named one of the roads on a new estate at Duston, Alfred Knight Close, in honour of the town’s Olympian.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1948 Summer Olympics Weightlifting GBR Alf Knight
Heavyweight, Men (Olympic) 4