Celebrating the Life of Andrew “Bud” Charniga

COLORADO SPRINGS - We were deeply saddened to share that Andrew “Bud” Charniga died on the morning of January 24, 2025. He was 74. Across his six-decade involvement with Olympic weightlifting, Bud contributed to the sport in an amazing number of ways.

Official obituary

He began his career in weightlifting as an athlete, winning the Junior Nationals in 1970. He went on to compete at several Senior Nationals, winning a silver medal in 1981. He generally competed at 100 or 110 kg and snatched 160 kg in national competition, so he knew weightlifting firsthand.

Bud took education very seriously. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science at Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Education in Kinesiotherapy at the University of Toledo.

Always passionate about learning everything he could about his beloved sport, he travelled to the then Mecca of world weightlifting, the USSR, while still a college student. During his visit, he discovered to his amazement that a number of highly educated sports specialists were formally studying weightlifting. They had produced numerous sophisticated technical publications on weightlifting. In the U.S., most of the limited information available on weightlifting at the time had been published in a single monthly magazine that devoted little space to the sport – Strength & Health magazine. Seizing on the opportunity to acquire more knowledge about weightlifting, Bud brought back every Soviet weightlifting publication he could find. Upon returning to the U.S., he set about learning Russian so that he could read and translate the resources he’d found.

When other lifters and coaches learned what he was doing, many expressed an interest in what the lifters and coaches in the USSR were doing. This was because the USSR was by far the leading nation in weightlifting at the time in terms of winning medals in international competitions – and they led the world by an even larger margin in weightlifting research. It was possible to actually earn a PhD in Weightlifting in the USSR at that time. The publications Bud acquired covered the topics of analyzing and teaching technique, developing strength and power for weightlifting, and a number of other subjects.

His translations were a success in terms of popularity and Bud’s reputation for knowledge of the sport grew. He ultimately translated and published more than a dozen Russian books on weightlifting under the name Sportivny Press. While Sportivny Press published only translations of USSR publications initially, it later published information on what was done outside the USSR (e.g., a comprehensive book on Naim Suleymanoglu and his training, and publications written by Bud, such as A De-masculinization of Strength). In addition, he published more than 100 articles about weightlifting, along with countless photos that he took as he travelled the world studying the sport. 

Bud came to recognize that Americans were hungry for weightlifting equipment as well as knowledge. To meet the demand, he became the distributor of Eleiko barbells in the Western Hemisphere. He also became a distributor for Adidas weightlifting shoes. Later, he branched out into offering other brands of shoes and equipment. Bud’s company, Dynamic Fitness, supplied weightlifting equipment to many schools, universities, and professional sports teams.

Always desiring to support the sport he loved in any way he could, Bud served on the USA Weightlifting Board of Directors for several years. He also ran two national championships and countless local events.

When the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) offered USAW space for a gym and spots for resident athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, USAW jumped to accept their offer. However, USAW didn’t have the money to equip the gym at the time, and equipment was not included in the USOPC’s offer. So Bud, along with the York Barbell Co., agreed to donate all of the barbells needed to outfit the training center.

In the meantime, Bud coached a number of high-level lifters, among them his daughter Kelly, who won a silver medal in the total at the 2014 Senior National Championships and represented the United States at the 2013 Junior World Championships. Bud also coached junior national champion Todd Lyons and Senior National Championship bronze medalist Tom Hood.

Bud’s enormous contribution to weightlifting deserves to be recognized and remembered. We salute his lifelong dedication to our sport and offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends.