Weightlifting

Facts

Discipline of Weightlifting
Participants 3004
NOCs 155
Competitions held 227 (Venues)
Distinct events 33

Description

In various forms, weightlifting has been popular for centuries. Strongmen of all types often performed at various fairs in the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, professional strongmen often toured with carnivals or vaudeville shows. However, weightlifting as a sport became organized only in the late 19th century.

The governing body for the sport is the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), which has 193 member nations as of 2022. The first governing body was founded on 10 June 1905, in Duisburg, as the Amateur Athleten Weltunion, with four founding members: Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. However, this organization did not last long. Meetings during the 1912 Olympics ended in a congress, held on 9 June 1913 in Berlin, where the Internationaler Weltverband für Schwerathletik was founded, with nine members: Austria, Bohemia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Russia, and Sweden.

This organization was renamed to Internationaler Kraftsportverband in 1920, but it disappeared in 1923. All these organizations did not only govern weightlifting, but also boxing, tug-of-war, weight throwing, and wrestling. The current federation was founded on 23 August 1920, during the Antwerpen Olympics, as the Fédération Internationale Haltérophile (FIH), and it was the first only responsible for weightlifting. It was renamed to Fédération Internationale Haltérophile et Culturiste (FIHC) in 1950, when bodybuilding was added, but this was again deleted in 1968 and the name became Fédération Haltérophile Internationale (FHI). The current name was adopted in 1972.

Weightlifting has been on the program of all the Olympic Games, except in the years of 1900, 1908, and 1912. Originally, there were no weight classes, only an open competition. In 1896 and 1906, there were also one-handed lifts. The program has varied little, except for the addition of more and more weight classes, until recent years, when the number of classes for men has decreased. Women made their Olympic début in weightlifting at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, with seven weight classes. Beginning in 1993, the weight classes in international weightlifting have been changed several times, with a completely new set of world records. This is to eliminate the possibility of earlier records having been set by drug users prior to stricter drug controls.

Beginning in 1928, the three Olympic lifts were standardized as the military press, the snatch, and the clean & jerk. Because of difficulties judging the press, and because there was some concern that the lift was biomechanically dangerous to lifters’ backs, it was eliminated from international competition after the 1972 Olympics. Today, lifters compete only in the snatch and in the clean & jerk at the Olympics.

Weightlifting was dominated by the Soviet Union after its entry to the Olympics in 1952. In the 1970s and 1980s, Bulgaria challenged that dominance, although a number of its lifters ran afoul of drug testing, notably in 1992. The United States was once also a weightlifting power. In recent Games, China has emerged as a strong nation in the sport, and, with 62 medals and 38 Olympic titles, is currently only one gold medal below the Soviet Union.

However, the only four lifters to have won three Olympic golds all represented Türkiye and Greece: Halil Mutlu, Naim Süleymanoğlu, Pyrros Dimas, and Akakios Kakiasvili (the latter winning his first gold for the Unified Team in 1992). There are five male weightlifters with four medals won at the Olympics, but only one man, Pyrros Dimas, has won more than one gold. On the women’s competition, Chen Yanqing (CHN), Hsu Shu-Ching (TPE), and Rim Jong-Sim (PRK) have all won two gold medals. Three other female weightlifters – Jang Mi-Ran (KOR), Lydia Valentín (ESP), and Raema Lisa Rumbewas (INA) – have won a total of three medals at the Olympic Games.

All-time medal table

Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 39 21 2 62
People's Republic of China CHN 38 16 8 62
United States USA 16 17 13 46
Bulgaria BUL 12 17 8 37
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 9 6 5 20
France FRA 9 3 3 15
Türkiye TUR 8 1 2 11
Germany GER 6 7 7 20
Poland POL 6 6 22 34
Greece GRE 6 5 4 15
Democratic People's Republic of Korea PRK 5 8 5 18
Italy ITA 5 5 7 17
Unified Team EUN 5 4 0 9
Egypt EGY 5 3 6 14
Thailand THA 5 2 7 14
Russian Federation RUS 4 7 6 17
Chinese Taipei TPE 4 2 4 10
Republic of Korea KOR 3 6 6 15
Austria AUT 3 4 2 9
Czechoslovakia TCH 3 2 3 8
Georgia GEO 3 1 3 7
Hungary HUN 2 9 9 20
Romania ROU 2 6 3 11
Colombia COL 2 4 3 9
Japan JPN 2 3 10 15
West Germany FRG 2 2 3 7
Canada CAN 2 2 1 5
Cuba CUB 2 1 5 8
Ukraine UKR 2 1 2 5
Uzbekistan UZB 2 0 1 3
East Germany GDR 1 4 6 11
Belarus BLR 1 4 3 8
Great Britain GBR 1 4 3 8
Kazakhstan KAZ 1 3 7 11
Estonia EST 1 3 3 7
Belgium BEL 1 2 1 4
Denmark DEN 1 2 0 3
Australia AUS 1 1 2 4
Spain ESP 1 1 1 3
Ecuador ECU 1 1 0 2
Philippines PHI 1 1 0 2
Mexico MEX 1 0 3 4
Finland FIN 1 0 2 3
Croatia CRO 1 0 1 2
Qatar QAT 1 0 1 2
Norway NOR 1 0 0 1
Indonesia INA 0 7 8 15
Armenia ARM 0 4 2 6
Switzerland SUI 0 2 2 4
Venezuela VEN 0 2 1 3
Latvia LAT 0 1 2 3
Trinidad and Tobago TTO 0 1 2 3
Argentina ARG 0 1 1 2
Dominican Republic DOM 0 1 1 2
India IND 0 1 1 2
Nigeria NGR 0 1 1 2
Vietnam VIE 0 1 1 2
Lebanon LBN 0 1 0 1
Luxembourg LUX 0 1 0 1
Samoa SAM 0 1 0 1
Singapore SGP 0 1 0 1
Turkmenistan TKM 0 1 0 1
Sweden SWE 0 0 4 4
Netherlands NED 0 0 3 3
Cameroon CMR 0 0 1 1
Iraq IRQ 0 0 1 1
Lithuania LTU 0 0 1 1
Syrian Arab Republic SYR 0 0 1 1

Intercalated Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Austria AUT 1 1 0 2
Greece GRE 1 0 0 1
Italy ITA 0 1 0 1
Germany GER 0 0 3 3
France FRA 0 0 1 1

Youth Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
People's Republic of China CHN 4 2 0 6
Russian Federation RUS 3 5 0 8
Armenia ARM 3 1 1 5
Bulgaria BUL 3 1 1 5
Thailand THA 2 6 0 8
Democratic People's Republic of Korea PRK 2 2 1 5
Vietnam VIE 2 2 0 4
Türkiye TUR 2 1 2 5
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 2 0 0 2
Uzbekistan UZB 1 3 1 5
Egypt EGY 1 1 3 5
Kazakhstan KAZ 1 1 3 5
Mexico MEX 1 1 2 4
Azerbaijan AZE 1 1 0 2
Chinese Taipei TPE 1 1 0 2
India IND 1 1 0 2
Italy ITA 1 0 1 2
Romania ROU 1 0 1 2
Tunisia TUN 1 0 1 2
Venezuela VEN 1 0 1 2
Colombia COL 0 3 2 5
Georgia GEO 0 1 0 1
Serbia SRB 0 1 0 1
Indonesia INA 0 0 2 2
Ukraine UKR 0 0 2 2
Argentina ARG 0 0 1 1
Cuba CUB 0 0 1 1
Czechia CZE 0 0 1 1
France FRA 0 0 1 1
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia KSA 0 0 1 1
Latvia LAT 0 0 1 1
Netherlands NED 0 0 1 1
New Zealand NZL 0 0 1 1
Nigeria NGR 0 0 1 1
United States USA 0 0 1 1

Forerunners To The Olympic Games

Most successful competitors

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Pyrros Dimas GRE 3 0 1 4
Akakios Kakiasvili GEO
GRE
EUN
3 0 0 3
Halil Mutlu TUR 3 0 0 3
Naim Süleymanoğlu TUR 3 0 0 3
Louis Hostin FRA 2 1 0 3
Yoshinobu Miyake JPN 2 1 0 3
Tommy Kono USA 2 1 0 3
Lu Xiaojun CHN 2 1 0 3
Arkady Vorobyov RUS
URS
2 0 1 3
Norayr Nurikyan BUL 2 0 0 2
Zhan Xugang CHN 2 0 0 2
Waldemar Baszanowski POL 2 0 0 2
Vasily Alekseyev RUS
URS
2 0 0 2
Aliaksandr Kurlovich BLR
URS
EUN
2 0 0 2
Leonid Zhabotinsky URS
UKR
2 0 0 2
John Davis USA 2 0 0 2
Chuck Vinci USA 2 0 0 2
Hossein Reza Zadeh IRI 2 0 0 2
Chen Yanqing CHN 2 0 0 2
Long Qingquan CHN 2 0 0 2
Hsu Shu-Ching TPE 2 0 0 2
Rim Jong-Sim PRK 2 0 0 2
Lasha Talakhadze GEO 2 0 0 2
Shi Zhiyong CHN 2 0 0 2

Intercalated Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Josef Steinbach AUT 1 1 0 2
Dimitrios Tofalos GRE 1 0 0 1
Tullio Camillotti ITA 0 1 0 1
Heinrich Schneidereit GER 0 0 2 2
Alexandre Maspoli FRA 0 0 1 1
Heinrich Rondi GER 0 0 1 1

Youth Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Boyanka Kostova AZE
BUL
1 0 0 1
Deng Wei CHN 1 0 0 1
Sara Samir EGY 1 0 0 1
Zhazira Zhapparkul KAZ 1 0 0 1
Simon Martirosyan ARM 1 0 0 1
Nidzhat Rakhimov AZE
KAZ
1 0 0 1
Thạch Kim Tuấn VIE 1 0 0 1
Tian Yuan CHN 1 0 0 1
Olga Zubova RUS 1 0 0 1
Georgi Shikov BUL 1 0 0 1
Alireza Kazeminejad IRI 1 0 0 1
Kim Song-Chol PRK 1 0 0 1
Artyom Okulov RUS 1 0 0 1
Jiang Huihua CHN 1 0 0 1
Duangaksorn Chaidee THA 1 0 0 1
Rattanaphon Pakkaratha THA 1 0 0 1
Chiang Nien-Hsin TPE 1 0 0 1
Hakob Mkrtchyan ARM 1 0 0 1
Bozhidar Dimitrov Andreev BUL 1 0 0 1
Meng Cheng CHN 1 0 0 1
Pak Jong-Ju PRK 1 0 0 1
Khetag Khugayev RUS 1 0 0 1
Karen Margaryan ARM 1 0 0 1
Jeremy Lalrinnunga IND 1 0 0 1
Alireza Yousefi IRI 1 0 0 1
Cristiano Ficco ITA 1 0 0 1
Muhammed Furkan Özbek TUR 1 0 0 1
Ngô Sơn Đỉnh VIE 1 0 0 1
Yésica Hernández MEX 1 0 0 1
Sabina Baltag ROU 1 0 0 1
Ghofrane Belkhir TUN 1 0 0 1
Dilara Narin TUR 1 0 0 1
Kumushkhon Fayzullayeva UZB 1 0 0 1
Katherin Echandia VEN 1 0 0 1

Forerunners To The Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total

Event types

Name Gender Still contested? Times held?
Featherweight Men 24
Lightweight Men 24
Middleweight Men 24
Light-Heavyweight Men 24
Middle-Heavyweight Men 18
Heavyweight Men 19
Super-Heavyweight Men 13
Flyweight Women 6
Featherweight Women 6
Lightweight Women 6
Middleweight Women 6
Light-Heavyweight Women 6
Heavyweight Women 6
Super-Heavyweight Women 6
Bantamweight Boys 3
Featherweight Boys 3
Lightweight Boys 3
Middleweight Boys 3
Heavyweight Boys 3
Super-Heavyweight Boys 3
Featherweight Girls 3
Bantamweight Girls 1
Lightweight Girls 3
Middleweight Girls 3
Heavyweight Girls 3
Super-Heavyweight Girls 3
Flyweight Men 7
Bantamweight Men 18
Heavyweight I Men 5
Heavyweight II Men 5
Unlimited, One Hand Men 3
Unlimited, Two Hands Men 4
All-Around Dumbbell Contest Men 1