Julius Gustav Albert "Bert" Schneider (July 1, 1897 – February 20, 1986) was a Canadian

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who competed in the early 1920s. He was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, United States, was raised in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, and was Jewish. Schneider's greatest success was as an amateur, winning the welterweight gold medal in

boxing at the 1920 Summer Olympics These are the results of the boxing competition at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. Medals were awarded in eight weight classes. The competitions were held from 21 to 24 August. Participating nations A total of 116 boxers from 12 nations ...

with a win over British boxer

Alexander Ireland Alexander Ireland may refer to: * Alexander Ireland (boxer) (1901–1966), Scottish amateur and professional welter/middleweight boxer * Alexander Ireland (journalist) Alexander Ireland (1810–1894) was a Scottish journalist, man of letters, a ...

in the final. Schneider was the first Canadian to win an Olympic boxing gold medal. Only two other Canadian boxers have achieved that feat in all the years since:

Horace Gwynne Horace "Lefty" Gwynne (October 5, 1912 – April 16, 2001) was a bantamweight professional boxer from Canada, who competed in the 1930s and won the gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics. He was still an amateur when he won the gold medal. ...

in 1932 and

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold ...

in 1988.

Olympic results

The following matches were fought by gold medallist Bert Schneider at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics: * Round of 32: bye * Round of 16: defeated Joseph Thomas (South Africa) * Quarterfinal: defeated

Aage Steen Aage Torstein Wetterland Steen (January 15, 1900 – February 28, 1982) was a Norwegian boxer who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics. At the Olympics he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the welterweight class after losing his fight t ...

(Norway) * Semifinal: defeated

Frederick Colberg Frederick William Kolberg (November 13, 1900 – March 21, 1965) was an American welterweight boxer who competed in the early 1920s. He won a bronze medal in Boxing at the 1920 Summer Olympics, losing against Canadian boxer Bert Schneid ...

(USA) * Final: defeated

(Great Britain) - won gold medal All matches were contested between August 21 and 24, 1920 at the Amphitheater of the

Antwerp Zoo Antwerp Zoo ( nl, ZOO Antwerpen) is a zoo in the centre of Antwerp, Belgium, located next to the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station. It is the oldest animal park in the country, and one of the oldest in the world, established on 21 July 1843. ...

Pro career

He turned professional early the next year. According to BoxRec.com, his career record as a professional was 17-17-2 with 6

KOs Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

Honors

Schneider is a member of

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

References

External links

* * * * 1897 births 1986 deaths Canadian male boxers Welterweight boxers Olympic boxers of Canada Boxers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Boxers from Cleveland Boxers from Montreal American emigrants to Canada American male boxers Jewish Canadian sportspeople Jewish boxers {{Canada-Olympic-medalist-stub