Shane Hamman was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and brought up in Mustang, Oklahoma.[1] Hamman began to play soccer at the age of 6 until he was 12 years old. In his freshman year of high school, Hamman began football and was a standout for two years on the freshman and varsity squads. He also wrestled his junior year.
Hamman grew strong lifting large pallets of produce for his father's fruit market. During high school, he had broken several teenage records. He trained as a powerlifter after high school, but after seeing the 1996 Summer Olympics, he decided to switch his career to Olympic-style weightlifting.
His greatest equipped squat was 457.5kg[4] at the USPF National Championships on March 9, 1996,[5] which stood as the world record until Andrey Konovalov squatted 460kg on November 4, 2012.[6]
Hamman is sometimes called the strongest man in America. He won all 9 American Senior National Championship that he competed in (1997-2005). He holds every American weightlifting record in his class.
He competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics and finished 10th. In the qualifying for the Olympics, during the 2003 World Championships, on his final lift he single-handedly secured three spots for athletes from the U.S. in the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the Olympics, he finished 7th in his weight category,[7] setting a new American record with his total of 430kg and his clean and jerk of 237.5kg.
Aside from his weightlifting prowess, Hamman also plays basketball and golf. Despite his 350 pounds (160 kilograms) frame, he can hit a golf ball 350 yards (320m), do a standing back flip, and leap vertically three feet (0.9 m).[citation needed]
Hamman has retired from Olympic weightlifting, and sometimes appears as an announcer in events like the Olympics in 2008 and 2016 for NBC.
Hamman is now focusing on helping others. He gives speeches at various high schools about his career and what it took to get Olympian status. Hamman also visits high schools to promote "Rachel's Challenge", a program for which he is a spokesperson.
