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The following is Tommy Kono’s foreword to Arthur Drechsler’s The Weightlifting Encyclopedia, one of the most influential books ever written in Olympic-style weightlifting:

“My acquaintance with the author, Artie Drechsler, dates back over a quarter of a century. Little did I suspect this teenager, who I first met at Lost Battalion Hall in New York in 1968, would become so intensely interested in the sport of weightlifting that he would groom himself to establish world records shortly thereafter.

Artie is a rare type of person, unique among all my friends. He likes and accepts challenges. When he was told he could not be a good weightlifter, it made him all the more determined to succeed.

He lived and breathed weightlifting and read all of the weightlifting journals and books he came across. He collected back issues of the sport’s magazines, so he became knowledgeable about the history of weightlifting. He wanted to capture the essence of the sport, not just the veneer that most lifters see.

And, when he could no longer continue in weightlifting competition, he spent much of his spare time researching and combining that research with his experiences so that he could write the first encyclopedia on Olympic weightlifting!

While he was conducting research for his book, Artie spent time compiling the 16 mm movie films made of weightlifting during the 1940s through the 1960s; he created a series of video tapes that is now available to all weightlifting enthusiasts.

A man of great patience and thoroughness, Artie took more than seven years to write this book that you are about to read. It is the most comprehensive book in the English language on Olympic weightlifting that I have seen. It covers all aspects of Olympic weightlifting, from the novice to the world-class level, from technique to training programs.

It is a “must” book for coaches and elite athletes to have. I also recommend it highly for novices who want to understand the finer points of training and lifting and to shorten the time it takes for them to reach their full potential.

Read, study, and apply the information you find within these covers and you will be richly rewarded with rapid improvement on your Olympic lifts. I wish this book had been available when I started the sport of weightlifting!”

Interested in learning more? Read the complete Weightlifting Encyclopedia by Arthur Drechsler for free on Weightlifting.org. The encyclopedia covers Olympic weightlifting technique, training programs, competition strategy, biomechanics, and the history of the sport.