Weightlifting at the 1924 Summer Olympics

The Olympic weightlifting programme had not changed since 1920, but each event now consisted of five rather than three parts. All lifters had to complete a one-handed snatch, a one-handed clean & jerk, and two-handed press, snatch and clean & jerk. For each part, the athlete was allowed three lifts, with a required minimum of 5 kg between successive attempts (2.5 kg for the last attempt). The results were decided on points rather than total weight lifted, but as each kilogramme was worth two points, this distinction was essentially useless. We have not listed the points in our results. Ties were broken by a “lift-off”, in which competitors were granted three more attempts for the two-handed clean & jerk, starting with at least 2.5 kg more than their previous best. If a tie still existed after three lifts, the lifter with the lowest bodyweight would be ranked higher. After the Olympics, the Fédération Internationale de Haltérofilie (FIH) abandoned the “lift-off” and kept only the bodyweight decider, which is still in use today.

The weightlifting events were held in the centre field of the Winter Velodrome (Vélodrome d’Hiver), and were poorly attended. The competitions were mostly a European affair, with only a few competitors from outside the continent - from Argentina, Egypt and Turkey - competing. Italy and France divided the five titles, with the Italians winning three events. One major nation missing from the competition was of course Germany, which was barred from competing in Paris. The German lifters had to console themselves with the European Championships, which were held in Germany and solely attracted German lifters.