Olympic Champion René Duverger was born 106 years ago
He started his career as a football player until he switched his interest to weightlifting at the age of 16. René Duverger was among the alltogether 10 French Olympic Champions. He was born 106 years ago on January 30th, was 164cm tall but compared to his stature – still a very strong character.
By the age of 19, he became an internationally recognized weightlifter, who won a silver medal in 1930 at the European Championships. His biggest achievement was a Olympic Gold Medal at the Los Angeles 1932 Olympic Games in the men’s 67,5 kg category. Later he won silver and bronze medals at the European Championships; and he finished seventh at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games. Mr. Duverger became the best at the French Championships between 1930 and 1945 ten times. After retirement he was the General Secretary of the French Weightlifting Federation and continued to inspire the youth in getting engaged with weightlifting. He passed away at the age of 72.
