IWF120y/69 – 1968: Serge Reding earns last Olympic medal for Belgium

1920 is an important date, both for the Olympic Movement and for the IWF. After the horror of World War I (leading to the cancellation of the 1916 edition), the Games were staged in Antwerp. Belgium, with the participation of 29 nations (only one more than in 1912). To symbolise the need for peace and unity around the world, it was the first time the Olympic Oath was heard and the Olympic Flag displayed. In that year, our organisation also underwent major changes, almost like a re-birth since its foundation in 1905, concentrating its efforts on the sole sport of weightlifting. As the host nation of the Games, Belgium (affiliated to the IWF since 1912) sent a strong contingent of athletes to Antwerp. Three of them won medals in weightlifting – Frans De Haes clinched gold (he remains the only Belgian Olympic champion in history) in the 60kg category, while Louis Williquet and Georges Rooms got respectively the silver and the bronze in the 67.5kg. The weightlifting community in Belgium had to wait 48 years to witness another (the last until present days) achievement at Olympic level: in 1968, in Mexico City, Serge Reding (photo) won the silver in the +90kg category, lifting 195-147.5-212.5-555. Until his sudden death at the age of 33 in 1975, Reding won three additional silver medals at the World Championships – 1969, 1970, and 1974. Moreover, he established six World Records throughout his career, becoming the most prolific lifter in Belgian history.