Joseph Douglas "Joe" Dube (born February 15, 1944) is an American

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...

, world champion, Olympic Games medalist and

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These ...

competitor. He won a bronze medal at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, and set two world records in the

clean and press The clean and press is a two-part weight training exercise whereby a loaded barbell is lifted from the floor to the shoulders (the clean) and pushed overhead (the press). The lift was a component of the sport of Olympic weightlifting from 1928 to 1 ...

the same year. As of 2022 he is still the last male American weightlifter to win the world title in weightlifting, which he achieved in 1969. Dube took up weightlifting in 1958, together with his elder brother Virgil. He learned the technique by reading weightlifting magazines and talking to Paul Anderson and his coach Dick Smith. He stopped competing in 1972–1979 due to an injury to the left elbow. He won the America's Cup in Honolulu in 1980, and retired in January 1982. In 1996 he had a total hip replacement. Between 1962 and 1996, Dube worked for an insurance company based in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

Dube in media

Dube was a guest of President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. He also appeared on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...

''. He is briefly mentioned briefly in the novel '' The Book of Air and Shadows'', whose fictional protagonist is said to have competed in the 1968 Olympics. Dube is an accomplished artist and has work on display with the

Art of the Olympians Art of the Olympians (AOTO) is an organization and program of Olympian and Paralympian artists that promotes the Olympic ideals of values, integrity, character, respect, honor, and work ethic through exhibitions and educational programs. It puts ...

. He is a member of the US Weightlifting Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dube, Joseph 1944 births Living people People from Calhoun County, Florida Sportspeople from Florida American male weightlifters American strength athletes Weightlifters at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in weightlifting Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in weightlifting Weightlifters at the 1967 Pan American Games World Weightlifting Championships medalists Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games 20th-century American people