Frans DE HAES

Frans De Haes was a typical representative of the Antwerpen working class. The family fled in 1914 into the neutral Netherlands to escape the German occupation, where he started weightlifting at age 17. After the war De Haes returned to Antwerpen. He set one world record in the lightweight clean & jerk in 1922. While preparing for the 1924 Paris Games, he was stricken with influenza and died at age 28.