Weightlifting at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Weightlifting at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Weightlifting at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Venue	Exhibition Garden
Location	Hastings Park, Vancouver, Canada
Dates	30 July 1954 – 7 August 1954
	← 1950 1958 →

Weightlifting at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games was the second appearance of Weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games. The events took place in the Exhibition Garden in Hastings Park, Vancouver, Canada.^[1]

Canada topped the weightlifting medal table with three gold medals.^[2]^[3]

Doug Hepburn from Canada, the reigning world heavyweight champion was given a gold medal incentive by city hall, that of building a new gym in the city but despite his victory it never materialised.^[4]

Medal table

* Host nation (Canada)

Medals won by nation with totals, ranked by number of golds—sortable
Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada*	3	2	0	5
2	England	2	1	1	4
3	Trinidad and Tobago	1	2	0	3
4	Australia	1	0	1	2
5	South Africa	0	1	1	2
6	Barbados	0	1	0	1
7	New Zealand	0	0	2	2
8	British Guiana	0	0	1	1
8	Wales	0	0	1	1
10	Jamaica	0	0	0	0
	Northern Rhodesia	0	0	0	0
	Pakistan	0	0	0	0
	Southern Rhodesia	0	0	0	0
Totals (13 entries)		7	7	7	21

Medal winners

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Bantamweight	Maurice Megennis (ENG)	Frank Cope (ENG)	Keith Caple (AUS)
Featherweight	Rodney Wilkes (TRI)	Jules Sylvain (CAN)	Ron Jenkins (WAL)
Lightweight	Vern Barberis (AUS)	George Nicholls (BAR)	Jan Pieterse (SAF)
Middleweight	Jim Halliday (ENG)	Lionel de Freitas (TRI)	Julius Park (BGU)
Light Heavyweight	Gerry Gratton (CAN)	Louis Greeff (SAF)	Tony George (NZL)
Middle Heavyweight	Keevil Daly (CAN)	Lennox Kilgour (TRI)	Joseph Barnett (ENG)
Heavyweight	Doug Hepburn (CAN)	Dave Baillie (CAN)	Harold Cleghorn (NZL)

Results

^[5]^[6]

Bantamweight 56kg

Pos	Athlete	Weight
1	Maurice Megennis	620 lb
2	Frank Cope	610 lb
3	Keith Caple	605 lb
4	L. Spence	600 lb
5	Reg Gaffley	dnf

Featherweight 60kg

Pos	Athlete	Weight
1	Rodney Wilkes	690 lb
2	Jules Sylvain	655 lb
3	Ron Jenkins	615 lb

Lightweight 67.5kg

Pos	Athlete	Weight
1	Vern Barberis	765 lb
2	George Nicholls	760 lb
3	Jan Pieterse	735 lb
4	E. Wroth	690 lb
5	Stan Gibson	685 lb
6	Jim McIntosh	685 lb

Middleweight 75kg

Pos	Athlete	Weight
1	Jim Halliday	800 lb
2	Lionel de Freitas	755 lb
3	Julius Park	745 lb
4	Piet Viljoen	745 lb
5	D. E. Heron	705 lb
6	Jean Dube	695 lb
7	A. Oxden-Willows	680 lb
8	J. B. Rich	680 lb

Light Heavyweight 82.5kg

Pos	Athlete	Weight
1	Gerry Gratton	890 lb
2	Louis Greeff	810 lb
3	Tony George	780 lb
4	Sydney Harrington	765 lb
5	Phil Caira	765 lb
6	M. I. Butt	750 lb

Middle Heavyweight 90kg

Pos	Athlete	Weight
1	Keevil Daly	880 lb
2	Lennox Kilgour	865 lb
3	Mel Barnett	830 lb
4	Harrison Skeete	815 lb
5	Trevor Clark	790 lb
6	Algernon S. Taffe	755 lb
7	Alwyn Evans	745 lb
8	Ken McDonald	dnf

Heavyweight 110kg

Pos	Athlete	Weight
1	Doug Hepburn	1040 lb
2	Dave Baillie	1000 lb
3	Harold Cleghorn	930 lb

References

^ "Tuesday at the BEG". Vancouver Sun. 2 August 1954. p. 12. Retrieved 26 September 2025 – via Google Newspapers.
^ "Medal Standings Vancouver 1954". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
^ "Commonwealth Games Medallists - Weightlifting". GBR Athletics. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
^ "The Mega-event that Set a Pace for Vancouver". The Tyee. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
^ "Empire Games details". Daily News (London). 4 August 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 25 September 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Weight-lifting". Birmingham Daily Post. 4 August 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 25 September 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.