Weightlifting at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Dates 9 – 11 August 1948
Medal Events 6

Weightlifting had had the same five classes – featherweight, lightweight, middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight – since the 1920 Olympics. At London, these classes were maintained with the addition of a bantamweight class (≤56 kg). The tournament was held at the Empress Hall at Earls Court Exhibition Centre.

Weightlifting had quickly resumed its World Championships which were conducted in Paris in 1946 and Philadelphia in 1947, so it was one of the few sports for which solid favorites existed in London. This was the last Olympic weightlifting tournament before the Soviet Union entered the Olympics, as they would make their international weightlifting début at the 1950 Worlds in Paris.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Bantamweight (≤56 kilograms), Men Olympic 9 August 1948 19 14
Featherweight (≤60 kilograms), Men Olympic 9 August 1948 23 18
Lightweight (≤67½ kilograms), Men Olympic 10 August 1948 22 17
Middleweight (≤75 kilograms), Men Olympic 10 August 1948 24 18
Light-Heavyweight (≤82½ kilograms), Men Olympic 11 August 1948 16 13
Heavyweight (>82½ kilograms), Men Olympic 11 August 1948 16 14
120 (120/0) 30 (30/0)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Bantamweight, Men Joe DePietroUSA Julian CreusGBR Rich TomUSA
Featherweight, Men Mahmoud FayadEGY Rodney WilkesTTO Jafar SalmasiIRI
Lightweight, Men Ibrahim ShamsEGY Attia MohammedEGY Jim HallidayGBR
Middleweight, Men Frank SpellmanUSA Pete GeorgeUSA Kim Seong-JipKOR
Light-Heavyweight, Men Stan StanczykUSA Harold SakataUSA Gösta MagnussonSWE
Heavyweight, Men John DavisUSA Norb SchemanskyUSA Bram CharitéNED

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States USA 4 3 1 8
Egypt EGY 2 1 0 3
Great Britain GBR 0 1 1 2
Trinidad and Tobago TTO 0 1 0 1
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 0 0 1 1
Netherlands NED 0 0 1 1
Republic of Korea KOR 0 0 1 1
Sweden SWE 0 0 1 1