Alfred NEULAND

On 29 August 1920, Alfred Neuland became the first Estonian to win an Olympic gold medal by outclassing the rest of the lightweight competitors with a total of 257.5 kg, 17.5 kg more than runner-up Louis Williquet and, with that total, he would have also won a middleweight gold. Neuland made his second appearance at the Olympic arena in 1924, when he won silver in the middleweight class. He was also World lightweight champion in 1922.

Neuland took up weightlifting in his early teens and earned his first honors as a weightlifter at the 1913 Russian championships, where he won silver as a lightweight. In 1914 he repeated his silver medal performance at the Russian championships and won lightweight gold at the Russian Olympiad. Neuland was the Russian lightweight champion in 1915 and middleweight champion in 1916 in addition to winning the Russian tug-of-war title in 1916. His career was interrupted by World War I and, after fighting in both the World War I and the Estonian Independence War, Neuland took up weightlifting again in late 1918, winning the Estonian lightweight title in 1921 and 1924 and the middleweight title in 1923. He also won gold at the 1923 Baltic Championships and set six world records in the lightweight and middleweight classes from 1920-25: three each in the snatch and clean & jerk.

Neuland retired from sports after the 1924 Olympics and later worked as a businessman in his hometown of Valga. He also acted as a weightlifting coach and referee. From 1950-55 Neuland was chairman of the Estonian Experimental Soft Drinks Factory (now named Tallinn Soft Drinks Ltd Co). Since 2000, an annual memorial tournament in his honor has been held in Valga.