Middleweight (≤76 kilograms), Men

Cuba’s Pablo Lara was the silver medalist at Barcelona in 1992 and won the World Championships in 1994-95. He was expected to be challenged by Armenian Khachatur Kyapanaktsyan, the 1993 European Champion and runner-up at the Europeans in 1994-95. Kyapanaktsyan took the lead with a snatch of 165.0 kg, with Lara trailing with 162.5 kg, a lift matched by North Korean Jon Chol-Ho and Greek Viktor Mitrou. Unfortunately, Kyapanaktsyan missed all three of clean & jerk attempts, dropping out. Lara had the best clean & jerk with 205.0 kg to win the gold medal over Bulgarian Yoto Yotov, who won the silver medal in the lightweight class in 1992. Jon took the bronze medal, while Mitrou missed the podium in fourth place, but he would wina silver medal in this class in 2000.