View source for Isaac Berger

{{Short description|American weightlifter (1936–2022)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Isaac Berger
| image = Isaac Berger (cropped).jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = Berger at the 1964 Olympics
| birth_date = {{birth date text|November 16, 1936}}
| birth_place = [[Jerusalem]], [[Mandatory Palestine]]<ref name="S-R"/>
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|6|4|1936|11|16}}
| height = 157 cm<ref name="S-R"/>
| weight = 59–60 kg<ref name="S-R"/>
| sport = [[Olympic weightlifting|Weightlifting]]
| club = York Barbell Club
| headercolor = lightsteelblue
| native_name = יצחק ברגר
| native_name_lang = he
| show-medals = yes
| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Men's [[Olympic weightlifting|weightlifting]]}}
{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1956 Summer Olympics|1956 Melbourne]]| [[Weightlifting at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 60 kg|-60 kg]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1960 Summer Olympics|1960 Rome]]|[[Weightlifting at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 60 kg|-60 kg]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo]]|[[Weightlifting at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 60 kg|-60 kg]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[World Weightlifting Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1957 World Weightlifting Championships|1957 Teheran]]|-60 kg}}
{{MedalGold|[[1958 World Weightlifting Championships|1958 Stockholm]]|-60 kg}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1959 World Weightlifting Championships|1959 Warsaw]]|-60 kg}}
{{MedalGold|[[1961 World Weightlifting Championships|1961 Vienna]]|-60 kg}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1963 World Weightlifting Championships|1963 Stockholm]]|-60 kg}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1964 World Weightlifting Championships|1964 Tokyo]]|-60 kg}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Pan American Games]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1959 Pan American Games|1959 Chicago]]|[[Weightlifting at the 1959 Pan American Games|-60 kg]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1963 Pan American Games|1963 São Paulo]]|[[Weightlifting at the 1963 Pan American Games|-60 kg]]}}
}}

'''Isaac "Ike" Berger''' ({{Langx|he|יצחק ברגר}}; November 16, 1936 – June 4, 2022) was an American weightlifter, in the featherweight division, who competed for the United States at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won one gold and two silver medals. He held eight world records (four official and four unofficial), and won the United States national title eight times.  In the highest level international competition, he was world featherweight (60&nbsp;kg) champion in 1958 and 1961, and was the runner-up for that title in 1957, 1959, and 1963.<ref name="S-R">{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Ike Berger |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/be/ike-berger-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519074845/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/be/ike-berger-1.html |archive-date=May 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |accessdate=April 1, 2018}}</ref><ref>[http://www.chidlovski.net/liftup/l_galleryResult.asp?a_id=18 Isaac Berger]. chidlovski.net</ref>

Berger was born to a [[rabbi]] in [[Jerusalem]], where he studied in a [[yeshiva]].<ref name="Hall of Fame"/> In addition to working as a rabbi, his father made a living as a diamond setter.  Isaac and his family immigrated to New York in 1949 when he was thirteen,<ref name=GJS/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/09/25/84766910.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=Berger Sets Weight-Lift Record In Finale of Maccabiah Games; Emigrated to U.S. in 1949 Athletes Hear Premier|work=The New York Times }}</ref><ref name="Hickok Sports" /> and he became a naturalized American citizen in December 1955.<ref name="S-R"/>  Around 1952, Berger started lifting weights at Schaffer's Gym in Brooklyn.  He studied auto mechanics for three years at East New York Vocational School, and later studied voice and trained to be a [[cantor]] in a synagogue.  As a young man, Isaac spent time in playgrounds, doing acrobatics, playing softball, basketball, and even boxing at the Hebrew Educational Alliance in New York.<ref name=GJS/>

Berger was the first featherweight in history to lift more than {{convert|800|lb}}, and the first to press double his body weight.<ref name="Jews in Sports" /> He twice won the world championships and the Pan American Games.<ref name="Hickok Sports">{{cite web |url=http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/bergeris.shtml |title=Berger, Isaac: Weightlifting |work=HickokSports.com |access-date=February 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070319083718/http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/bergeris.shtml |archive-date=March 19, 2007}}</ref>

In 1955, at nineteen, he won the senior United States weightlifting title, which he won again in 1956 and 1957.<ref name=GJS>Slater, Robert, ''Great Jews in Sports'', Johnathan David Publishers, New York, New York, (1983), p. 37</ref>

In his gold medal performance at the [[1957 Maccabiah Games]], Berger was the first (and until 1998 the only) athlete to set a world record on Israeli land in any sport. He pressed {{convert|117|kg}}.<ref name="Jews in Sports">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=1 |title=Berger, Isaac 'Ike' |work=Jews in Sports |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref>  His gold medal was presented to him by Israel Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who called him the "Gibor Yehudi" or "Mighty Jew".<ref>Guedes-Reed, Caleb, and Friedman, Gabe, "Isaac Berger", ''South Florida Sun-Sentinel'', Fort Lauderdale, Florida, pg. A-10, 11 Jan 2023</ref>

== Olympics ==
Berger's IWF featherweight division standard of 60&nbsp;kg (132 pounds) remained in use until 1993. His most publicized early achievement was likely his Gold medal in the 60&nbsp;kg weightlifting competition at the [[Weightlifting at the 1956 Summer Olympics|1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics]], setting a world record of 352.5 kilograms (776&nbsp;lbs) for three lifts.<ref name="Hickok Sports" />  Four days before competing for the featherweight (60&nbsp;kg) title at the [[Weightlifting at the 1960 Summer Olympics|1960 Melbourne Summer Olympics]], he broke four world records in the press (264 pounds), the snatch (253 pounds), the clean and jerk (336 pounds), and the total (853 pounds).  Ike believed the strain and injury caused by this effort was the reason he won only a Silver Medal behind Eugene Miniev of the Soviet Union in Olympic competition.  Berger became known as one of the few athletes who could compete against the Soviet dominance in weightlifting in his featherweight (60&nbsp;kg) weight class.  Later in his career, demonstrating his consistency in high level international competition, he won a silver medal at the [[Weightlifting at the 1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics]] at 60&nbsp;kg.<ref name=GJS/><ref name="S-R"/>

== World championships ==
Showing consistent achievement in the World Championships in his 60&nbsp;kg weight class, Isaac medaled every year from 1957 to 1964, with the exception of the year 1962, taking a bronze in 1957, a gold in 1958, a silver in 1959, a gold in 1961, a silver in 1963, and a final silver in 1964.<ref name=GJS/><ref name="S-R"/>

In the Pan Am Games in his 60&nbsp;kg division, Berger took a gold in [[Weightlifting at the 1959 Pan American Games|1959 Pan Am Games]] in São Paulo, Brazil, and another gold at the [[Weightlifting at the 1963 Pan American Games|1963 Pan Am Games]] in Chicago.

== Retirement ==
In 1964, after retiring from weightlifting not long after the 1964 Olympics, he started a mail-order business in New York selling an exerciser that could be used for weight loss.  In 1965, he helped create a product called Waste-a-Way, a belt for losing weight, that was successfully marketed.  In 1965, he began a three-year training period at the New York College of Music to become a cantor, eventually officiating at synagogues in Florida, Missouri, and New York.  In 1970, Isaac concentrated his attention on a business venture, known as Ike Berger Enterprises, devoted largely to the sale of weightlifting and exercise products.<ref name=GJS/>

== Honors ==
Berger was named to the United States Weightlifters Hall of Fame in 1965,<ref name="Jews in Sports" /> and the [[International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1980.<ref name="Hall of Fame">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/IsaacBerger.htm |title=Isaac "Ike" Berger |publisher=International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref> He died on June 4, 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-featherweight-champion-olympic-medalist-isaac-ike-berger-dead-at-85/ | title=Jewish featherweight champion, Olympic medalist Isaac 'Ike' Berger dead at 85 | website=[[The Times of Israel]] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fitnessvolt.com/weightlifter-isaac-berger-died/|title=Legendary Weightlifter Isaac 'Ike' Berger Has Passed Away At 85|date=June 8, 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Jews in sports#Weightlifting|List of select Jewish weightlifters]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Lift Up|18}}
* {{Olympics.com profile|isaac-berger}}
* {{Olympedia|56955|Ike Berger}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions Weightlifting Featherweight}}
{{Footer World Champions Weightlifting Men Featherweight}}
{{Footer Pan American Champions Weightlifting Featherweight Men}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Isaac}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:American male weightlifters]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in weightlifting]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in weightlifting]]
[[Category:Weightlifters at the 1956 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Weightlifters at the 1960 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Weightlifters at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:World Weightlifting Championships medalists]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in weightlifting]]
[[Category:Weightlifters at the 1959 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Weightlifters at the 1963 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Maccabiah Games medalists in weightlifting]]
[[Category:Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States]]
[[Category:Competitors at the 1957 Maccabiah Games]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:Israeli emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli sportspeople]]
[[Category:Jewish American sportspeople]]
[[Category:Jewish weightlifters]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]