Gerry Gratton (August 29, 1927 – July 28, 1963) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Olympic weightlifting 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 lif ...

medallist. He won a gold medal at the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games was the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. The main venue was ...

alongside a silver at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

and a gold at the

1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. Gratton was inducted to the

Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame The Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame is an honour roll of the top Canadian Olympic athletes, teams, coaches, and builders (officials, administrators, and volunteers). It was established in 1949. Selections are made by a committee appointed by the Cana ...

in 1955 and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Early life and education

Gerry Gratton was born on August 29, 1927 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Career

Gratton started his weightlifting career at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

where he came in fifth. At the

, he won a gold medal in the middleweight event. Gratton followed up with a subsequent gold medal at the

, but he was demoted to the silver medal after an official ruling. After the Olympics, Gratton won a gold at the

in the middleweight category. Gratton was scheduled to compete at the 1956 Summer Olympics, but he was disqualified due to surpassing the weight limit. Gratton's final competition before his retirement was at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Throughout his career, Gratton set weightlifting records including sharing the middle weight Olympic record at the 1952 Olympics. He was also the flag bearer for the Canadian team at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

Awards and honours

In 1955, Gratton was inducted into the

. Posthumously, he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Death

Gratton died on July 28, 1963 after succumbing to injuries from a car accident.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gratton, Gerry 1927 births 1963 deaths Sportspeople from Montreal Canadian male weightlifters Olympic weightlifters of Canada Weightlifters at the 1948 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in weightlifting Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1950 British Empire Games Weightlifters at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Weightlifters at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting Road incident deaths in Canada