Middleweight (≤75 kilograms), Men

The middleweight division was somewhat of a walkover, with Italian Carlo Galimberti winning by a margin of 37.5 kg. The pre-tournament favourite had been Estonia’s Alfred Neuland, the 1920 Olympic lightweight champion, and winner of the 1922 World title in that same division. Neuland had a good start, breaking the single-handed snatch World Record, but Galimberti won by 20 kg in the military press, setting a new World Record with two other lifters. Galimberti then proceeded to break the clean & jerk record as well with 127.5 kg. Jaan Kikkas duplicated this mark, which put him into third place overall. The quality of the Italian’s lifts can be seen from the fact his total would have put him in second place in the light-heavyweight division, and in 7th in the heavyweight class. Galimberti was the son of Italian immigrants in Argentina, but he returned to Italy, where he worked as a firefighter. He had a long career, and still won an Italian title in 1939. He died later that year, when a boiler he tried to contain exploded.