Serge Yvan Arthur Reding (23 December 1941 – 28 June 1975) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

heavyweight weightlifter. He competed in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won a silver medal in 1968. Between 1968 and 1974 he won four silver medals at the world championships and set six ratified world records: three in

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, one in snatch and two in

clean and jerk The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without res ...

. Prior to the 1970 World Championships Reding was kidnapped by students who wanted to add some muscle to their demands for more meaningful degrees. They held the 280-pound weight-lifter hostage for 24 hours in a medieval castle. Weight-lifting officials were worried that he would be starved, but Reding shouted down from the archers' walkway of the castle tower that he was well fed. "The right of students to question the existing institutions is a proper social phenomenon of this year." Reding was born in

Auderghem Auderghem (former Dutch spelling, now used in French; pronounced ) or Oudergem () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). Located to the southeast of the region, along the Woluwe valley and at the entrance to t ...

to Adeline Gérard, an unmarried woman, and his father is unknown. When his mother married Ernest Reding from

Herbeumont Herbeumont (; wa, Arbûmont) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers 58.81 km², had 1,536 inhabitants, giving a population density of 26.1 inhabitants ...

in 1953, Serge was adopted by Reding and took his family name. Reding grew attached to his stepfather and stayed with him after he divorced from his mother.SERGE REDING, SA MEDAIL LE, SES RECORDS, SA MORT
lavenir.net He died of a heart attack in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, a year after competing in the world championships there.

References

External links

Serge Reding ProfileSerge Reding Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange
1941 births 1975 deaths People from Auderghem Olympic weightlifters of Belgium Olympic silver medalists for Belgium Weightlifters at the 1964 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1968 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in weightlifting Belgian male weightlifters Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists Sportspeople from Brussels 20th-century Belgian people {{Belgium-weightlifting-bio-stub