Launceston Elliot

Launceston Elliot was a British weightlifter, born on 9 June 1874 in India and died on 8 August 1930, who was the first athlete representing the United Kingdom to become an Olympic champion. He was named after Launceston, Tasmania, where he was conceived, and grew up in Essex under the influence of the strongman Eugen Sandow. At the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 he won the one-handed lift, raising 71.0 kilograms, and took second place in the two-handed lift behind Viggo Jensen of Denmark after both had lifted 111.5 kilograms. He won the British championships at the Royal Aquarium in 1894, set four British records in 1899, and later turned professional.