Naim Suleymanoglu (Turkey)

Naim Suleymanoglu was born to Turkish parents living in Bulgaria. He was nicknamed Pocket Hercules as he was only 1.47m tall and he was the second of only seven lifters to clean and jerk three times their bodyweight. He missed the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 as Bulgaria joined the Soviet Union's boycott of the Games.

He was almost a victim of politics when the Communist regime in Bulgaria forced its Turkish minority to adopt Bulgarian names. He was known as Naum Shalamanov. He defected in 1986 to Turkey. There was also a battle over which country he would represent in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The Bulgarian government demanded and received $1,000,000 from Turkey to allow him to compete for Turkey. He won the featherweight gold in Seoul and repeated his triumph in 1992. In between he also retired briefly. When he went to Atlanta for the 1996 Games, it is safe to say that there was considerable pressure on him. After all, no weightlifter in history had won three successive gold medals. He engaged in a tremendous duel with Valerios Leonidis of Greece to clinch his third gold medal. And he did in style. By breaking his own world record.