Super-Heavyweight (>105 kilograms), Men

Russia’s Andrey Chemerkin was the defending champion and had won the World Championships in 1997-99, but he was expected to be challenged by German Ronny Weller, silver medalist at the 1996 Olympics and 1997 Worlds. Also considered was Armenia’s Ashot Danielyan. Danielyan opened with a world record snatch of 207.5 kg, only to see it broken first by Weller, with 210.0 kg, and then Iran’s Hossein Reza Zadeh, who lifted 212.5 kg and took the lead. In the snatch Reza Zadeh lifted 260.0 kg for a world record total of 472.5 kg. The others were forced to attempt bigger weights, with Weller and Danielyan missing at 262.5 kg, and Chemerkin not coming close at 272.5 kg. This gave the gold medal to Reza Zadeh, who would return in 2004 and defend his title.

The bronze medal seemed to belong to Danielyan, but he tested positive for stanozolol (an anabolic steroid) and was disqualified, lifting Chemerkin up to the bronze medal position. Weller won the silver medal, his fourth Olympic medal, including a bronze in 1988 and gold in 1992 in heavyweight II. His four Olympic medals made him only the second weightlifter to accomplish this, after American Norb Schemansky (1948-64). This was also later accomplished in 2004 by Greece’s Pyrros Dimas and Bulgarian-Croatian Nikolay Peshalov.