Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
at the games in 1968, 1972 and 1976. His coaches were James "Butch" Toth and Mike Huszka.
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', August 13, 1972. Accessed November 22, 2017. "Other New Jerseyans on the various Olympic teams are Phillip Grippaldo of Belleville and Frank Capsouras of River Edge, weight lifters; Robert Sparks of Clark and Thomas Hardiman of Trenton, team‐handball players, and Reginald Jones of Newark a light‐middleweight boxer." At an early age, Grippaldi was exposed to bodybuilding. One of his neighbors, Mike Gubliano, was a bodybuilder though he never competed in any events. Gubliano had a lot of influence on Grippaldi in the early years of his life. Gubliano excelled in training his arms. With arms of 22 inches, he was a man worth listening to when it came to working our your arms. In 1966, Gubliano ended up becoming a bodyguard for the model
Twiggy
Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London.
...
. Grippaldi could not help but to start training with Gubliano's arm workouts as soon as he entered puberty. Gubliano took Grippaldi through his three-hour-long arm workouts. At only age 16, Grippaldi had 19-inch arms, which would later be what he was known for.
Weightlifting achievements
*Olympic Games team member (1968, 1972, 1976)
*Silver Medalist at Senior World Championships (1970)
*
Pan Am Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
Champion (1971 and 1975)
*Senior National Champion (1967, 1968, 1970, and 1973-1975)
*Teenage National Champion (1966)