Bantamweight (≤59 kg), Men

The three favorites in this class were Greek Leonidas Sampanis and Bulgarian Nikolay Peshalov, who had won the last three World Championships (Sampanis in 1995 and Peshalov in 1993-94), and China’s Tang Lingsheng, the world record holder. All three tied with 137.5 kg in the snatch, but Tang won the gold medal with a world record-equaling clean & jerk of 170.0 kg. Sampanis won the silver with his jerk of 167.5 kg, while Peshalov missed his first two lifts in the clean & jerk and had to settle for 165.0 kg on his final attempt and the bronze medal.

Peshalov would win an Olympic gold medal, but as a featherweight and at Sydney in 2000, with Sampanis the silver medalist in that event.