Dr. Roy Sinclair
Weightlifting Builder - Inducted 2011
Dr. Roy Sinclair was the first Canadian official to become qualified as an International Weightlifting Federation #3 official and the first to reach #1 official certification allowing him to referee up to and including the Olympics. He conducted official’s clinics across Canada. Dr. Sinclair’s most significant contribution to weightlifting is the “Sinclair Bodyweight Formula” - a statistical method that identifies the athlete who, pound-for-pound lifts the most weight. Adopted by the International Weightlifting Federation in 1979 and used worldwide, the formula is recalculated every four years using the latest world records, therefore never becoming outdated.
Dr. Sinclair has officiated at most Alberta weightlifting competitions dating back to the first one in 1958. Active for more than 50 years in Alberta with the Provincial Weightlifting Association, he was President from 1976-77 and again in 1985-87 and has been a member of many technical committees. He was recruited to the Canadian Weightlifting Federation Officials committee in the mid-1970s and has served in various capacities for more than 40 years.
Dr. Sinclair was one of seven vice-chairmen for the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games and acted as the Officials Coordinator. He also had assignments at the 1978 Can/Am Championships in Brandon, Manitoba, the 1980 Pan Americans in Cuba, the 1993 I.W.F. World Masters in Atlanta, Georgia, the 1997 World Masters in Florida, and the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton.
In 1980, Dr. Sinclair was awarded the Alberta Achievement Award in recognition of the I.W.F. adopting his weightlifting formula.
After Induction
Roy Sinclair was referred to as "a walking encyclopedia," and was always striving to learn. As a young man, he graduated from the U of A with the highest marks and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While there, he was able to attend a lecture by Albert Einstein on the theory of relativity and he also saw Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a speech.
His love of weight lifting was just a part of his lifetime commitment to staying in shape, both physically and mentally. "If his hands weren't holding a dumbbell, they held a book." He loved to ride his bike and was often seen riding it to work at the U of A.
Parkinson's disease took away his balance and mobility in his last year of life.
Roy Sinclair passed away March 19, 2015 at the age of 85. He was born in 1929.
