1904 USA Olympic Team

By Strength and Power Hall of Fame

1904 Olympic Team

 

The 1904 Olympics were held in Saint Louis Missouri 7/1-11/23/1904. The 1904 Olympics were the first to be held in the United States and the first to be held outside Europe. 1904 was also the first games to award Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. The games were originally scheduled for Chicago but were moved to Saint Louis to be held in conjunction with the Worlds Fair. Weightlifting consisted of 2 events and there were no weight classes. The two events were the Two Hand Lift and the All-Around Dumbbell Contest. The All-Around Dumbbell Contest consisted of 10 different movements. The competition for both lifts was held on 8/31-9/3/1904 at Francis Field part of the Washington University Olympic Stadium.

 

See Physical Culture Study Weightlifting at the 1904 Olympics by Conor Heffernan 9/28/2016. Available on line. https://physicalculturestudy.com/2016/09/28/weightlifting-at-the-1904-olympics/

 

 

The Athletes

 

Oscar G. Olson  

Oscar finished 4th in the Two Hand Lift event at the 1904 Olympics. Also, Oscar won a gold medal in the Tug of War which was a track and field event at the time.  There were no formal weightlifting contests during his era. Weightlifting was not an organized sport in 1904.

Born in Oslo Norway Oscar came to the United States in 1881.He was a long time member of the Sleipner Athletic Club organized in 1894 in Chicago, also known as the Norwegian-American Athletic Association. While a member Oscar won several State and National Championships in various events. Oscar was an all-around athlete participating in track and field, wrestling, swimming and several other sports.

Oscar was a machinist for a printing press company. He was naturalized as an American Citizen in 1942. Oscar remained in Chicago until his death in 1962 at 86 years old.

 

Oscar P. Osthoff

Oscar won the gold medal in the All-Around Dumbbell Contest and the silver medal in the Two Hand Lift.  The All-Around Dumbbell lift was split between two days with 5 lifts to be performed each day for a total of 10 lifts. For the first nine lifts competitors were awarded 5 points, 3 points and 1 point if they were first, second or third. The final event was up to the judge’s discretion with the caveat that no more than 25 points could be divided between 3 competitors.

The two hand lift was somewhat comparable to today’s Clean & Jerk. Essentially get the weight overhead anyway you can. Lifters were given three attempts to hit their target weights, with the top three athletes given three additional attempts to best their previous lifts.

Obviously, this competition did not resemble a modern Olympic weightlifting contest and while the American’s who competed in the “weightlifting” competition were excellent athletes they were not the weightlifters of today.  At the time of the 1904 Olympics weightlifting had not been organized as an official sport.

Oscar represented the University of Wisconsin and received 10 letters competing in football, swimming, diving, gymnastics and track & Field. He won the 1908 Big Ten shot put title and placed in the broad jump and discus. He was also 1908 Big Ten in football. In 1909 Oscar won Big Ten on the flying rings. Oscar was also well known as a sprinter and was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic HOF. Oscar was the football coach of Washington State University from 1910-1911. Oscar also represented the Milwaukee Athletic Club and set records for the 100 yards in 1906 & 1907. Oscar remained with the Milwaukee AC swim team until 1924 still winning titles. Oscar had a lifelong career as a consulting engineer.

 

Frank X. Kugler

Frank won the bronze medal for the All-Around Dumbbell Lift and the bronze medal for the Two Hand Lift. Frank also won a bronze medal in the Tug of War and a silver medal in Free Style Wrestling. Frank is the only Olympian to win a medal in three different sports at the same Olympics.

 

The two weightlifting events were not the weightlifting 5, 3 or 2 lift competitions that would follow. The first event the All-Around Dumbbell Lift consisted of 10 different lifts. The two hand lift sort of resembled the modern day Clean & Jerk but was essentially getting the weight overhead anyway you could. Rules were subjective and were made up as the competition progressed. In 1904 weightlifting was not an organized sport and the 1904 Olympics were controversial in several ways. For instance the games lasted 5 months.

Frank was born in Germany and immigrated to the Unites States in the 1890’s. He worked as a brewer in Saint Louis Missouri and represented the Saint Louis Southwest Turnverein No 2 Team. The team decided to go to the Olympic Games since they were being held in Saint Louis. Frank was an all-around athlete typical of his day. He competed in wrestling, track and field and gymnastics and was known as a strength athlete.

Frank could not speak English at the 1904 games and did not receive citizenship until 1913. The IOC listed Frank as a member of the US delegation prior to 2022 and then assigned his medals to Germany. However, USA Weightlifting still has Frank winning his medals for the United States. Frank lived in the United States for 60 years and was an American. He is buried at Sunset Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Afton, Missouri. 

Frederick Winter*

Frederick won the silver medal in the All-Around Dumbbell Contest. The dumbbell contest consisted of 10 events. Frederick was in the lead going in to the 10th event. For the 10th event the athletes were permitted to choose the lift they wanted to perform. Frederick chose a one arm push up with 105lbs on his back and was able to perform 6 repetitions. However, due to the odd scoring system devised by the judges he did not score enough points to maintain first place and won the silver medal.

Frederick was born in Germany. He moved to New York and represented the New Westside Athletic Club of New York. He was President of the German Athletic Club of New York and was a café owner in New York.

*Frederick Winters is the usual spelling. However, Frederick’s obituary spells his last name as Winter. See findagrave Frederick Winter 1/7/1873-4/26/1915, New York.

 

Author: By Strength and Power Hall of Fame Completed: no Created: Sat Jul 18 22:30:50 UTC 2026 | Last Updated: Sat Jul 18 22:40:25 UTC 2026