Bantamweight (≤56 kilograms), Men

The world record holder was Bulgarian Atanas Kirov and he had won the last three World Championships, but he was not chosen for the 1976 Olympics, replaced by Norayr Nurikyan. Nurikyan was gold medalist in 1972 at München as a featherweight and he had competed in that class since 1972, winning medals at the 1973-74 World Championships, although he did not win either year. Nurikyan won the gold medal in Montréal easily, recording the best lift in both the snatch and clean & jerk, and breaking Kirov’s world record with a total of 262.5 kg. Behind him was Poland’s Grzegorz Cziura, who had no significant international record previously. The bronze medal went to Japan’s Kenkichi Ando, who was better known, though barely, having won the class at the 1974 Asian Games. Fifth-place went to Hungarian Imre Földi, the defending gold medalist, who had medalled as a bantamweight in 1964-72, and in Montréal became the first weightlifter to compete at five Olympics.