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Gold medalists Pete George, John Davis, Norbert Schemanksy, and Tommy Kono at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
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Group photograph

Credit: Courtesy of Dr. John D. Fair

Filling his team with immigrants of seventeen different nationalities, Hoffman turned the York Barbell Club into world champions in 1946 and 1947, then led the American team victory at the Helsinki Olympics against the Russians in 1952. Hoffman reveled in these Cold War victories. "This nation is a real melting pot," Hoffman wrote in Strength and Health magazine.

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