Paul Anderson (weightlifter)

In July 2019, an episode of the History Channel show The Strongest Man in History featured Paul Anderson's story and several of his historic feats of strength.

As a child, Anderson suffered from Bright's disease (now known as chronic nephritis), a kidney disorder, and he eventually died from kidney disease on August 15, 1994, at the age of 61.

The Guinness Book of World Records (1985 edition) lists his feat of lifting 6,270 lb (2,840 kg) in a back lift as "the greatest weight ever raised by a human being". Anderson turned professional after the 1956 Summer Olympics, and thus many of his feats of strength, while generally credible, were not done under rigorous enough conditions to be official. In fact, controversy surrounding the figure in the 1985 Guinness Book led to its withdrawal in subsequent editions; the currently listed Guinness record is 5,340 lbs, set by Gregg Ernst in 1993.

In 1961, Anderson and his wife Glenda founded the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a home for troubled youth, in Vidalia, Georgia. They both helped to build and support the home with an average of 500 speaking engagements and strength exhibitions per year—notwithstanding the congenital chronic kidney disease that eventually killed him at age 61. He would perform stunts such as hammering a nail with his bare fist and raising a table loaded with eight men onto his back.

Anderson could not compete in the 1960 Olympics because he had been ruled a professional for accepting money for some of his weightlifting and strength exhibitions. Thus at the 1960 Olympics the Soviet heavyweight Yury Vlasov bested records set at the 1956 Olympics, with Anderson not competing in the contest. A short time later, however, not to be outdone by the Ukrainian as the World's Strongest Man, Anderson lifted the same weight as Vlasov three times in quick succession, demonstrating unbelievable strength. This feat solidified his position as the most dominant lifter in the world and cemented his legacy as the strongest of the strong.

In 1956, Anderson won a gold medal in a long, tough duel with Argentine Humberto Selvetti in the Melbourne, Australia, Olympic Games as a weightlifter in the super-heavyweight class (while suffering from a 104 °F (40 °C) fever). The two competitors were tied in the amount of weight lifted, but because Anderson, who weighed in at 137.9 kg (304 lb), was lighter than Selvetti at the time, who weighed 143.5 kg (316 lb), Anderson was awarded the gold.

In 1955, at the height of the Cold War, Anderson, as winner of the USA National Amateur Athletic Union Weightlifting Championship, traveled to the Soviet Union, where weightlifting was a popular sport, for an international weightlifting competition. In a newsreel of the event shown in the United States the narrator, Bud Palmer, commented as follows: "Then, up to the bar stepped a great ball of a man, Paul Anderson." Palmer said, "The Russians snickered as Anderson gripped the bar, which was set at 402.5 pounds, an unheard-of lift. But their snickers quickly changed to awe and all-out cheers as up went the bar and Anderson lifted the heaviest weight overhead of any human in history." "We rarely have such weights lifted," said the solemn Russian announcer as Anderson hoisted 402.41 lb (182.53 kg) in the two-hand press. Prior to Anderson's lift, the Soviet champion, Alexey Medvedev, had matched the Olympic record of the time with a 330.3 lb (149.8 kg) press. Anderson then did a 402.5 lb (182.6 kg) press. At a time when Americans were engaged in a symbolic Cold War battle with the Soviet Union, Anderson's strength — and his singular, tank-like appearance — became a rallying cry to all.

During the 1955 World Championships in Munich, Germany, that October, Anderson went on to establish two other world records (for the press [407.7 lb (184.9 kg)] and total weight cleared [1,129.5 lb (512.3 kg)]) as he easily won the competition in his weight class to become world champion. Upon his return to the United States, Anderson was received by then Vice-President Richard Nixon, who thanked him for being a goodwill ambassador.

In 1950, Anderson married Glenda Garland. The couple were devout Christians. They had one daughter, born 1966.

Paul Edward Anderson (October 17, 1932 – August 15, 1994) was an American weightlifter, strongman, and powerlifter. He was an Olympic gold medalist, a world champion, and a two-time national champion in Olympic weightlifting. Anderson contributed significantly to the development of competitive powerlifting.