Weightlifting has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the 1920 Summer Olympics, in Antwerp, Belgium, as well as twice before then. It debuted at the 1896 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece, and was also an event at the 1904 Games.

Summary

GamesYear EventsBest Nation1 1896 2 (1) (1)2 3 1904 2 (1)4 5 67 1920 5 (1)8 1924 5 (1)9 1928 5 (1)10 1932 5 (2)11 1936 5 (1)121314 1948 6 (2)15 1952 7 (3)16 1956 7 (4)17 1960 7 (1)18 1964 7 (2)19 1968 7 (3)20 1972 9 (1)21 1976 9 (4)22 1980 10 (5)23 1984 10 (1)24 1988 10 (6)25 1992 10 (1) 26 1996 10 (1) 27 2000 15 (2) 28 2004 15 (3)29 2008 15 (4)30 2012 15 (5)31 2016 15 (6)32 2020 14 (7)33 2024 10 (8)34 2024 10

Events

Men's events In the early Games, all lifters competed in the same events, regardless of their individual body weights.

1896 One hand lift Two hand lift

1904 Two hand lift All-around dumbbell

When the sport returned to the Olympic Games in 1920, the competition was structured as a set of weight classes. The number of classes and weight limits for each class have changed several times, as shown in the following table.

1920–1936 1948 1952–1968 1972–1976 1980–1992 1996 2000–2016 2020 2024|rowspan=15 colspan=2|Heavyweight+82.5 kg |rowspan=11|Heavyweight+90 kg |rowspan=1 colspan=2|Super heavyweight+110 kg |rowspan=3|Super heavyweight+108 kg |rowspan=4|Super heavyweight+105 kg |rowspan=2|Super heavyweight+109 kg |rowspan=5|Super heavyweight+102 kg|rowspan=10|Heavyweight90–110 kg |rowspan=5|Heavyweight100–110 kg|rowspan=6|Heavyweight96–109 kg|rowspan=4|Heavyweight99–108 kg|rowspan=5|Heavyweight94–105 kg|rowspan=7|Heavyweight89–102 kg|rowspan=5|First-heavyweight90–100 kg|rowspan=3|First-heavyweight91–99 kg|rowspan=8|Middle-heavyweight81–96 kg|rowspan=4|Middle-heavyweight85–94 kg|rowspan=4|Middle-heavyweight83–91 kg|rowspan=4 colspan=3|Middle-heavyweight82.5–90 kg|rowspan=8|Middleweight73–89 kg|rowspan=4|Light-heavyweight77–85 kg|rowspan=4|Light-heavyweight76–83 kg|rowspan=4 colspan=5|Light-heavyweight75–82.5 kg|rowspan=4|Middleweight73–81 kg |rowspan=5|Middleweight69–77 kg|rowspan=3|Middleweight70–76 kg|rowspan=4 colspan=5|Middleweight67.5–75 kg|rowspan=4|Lightweight67–73 kg |rowspan=7|Lightweight61–73 kg|rowspan=4|Lightweight64–70 kg|rowspan=4|Lightweight62–69 kg|rowspan=5 colspan=5|Lightweight60–67.5 kg|rowspan=3|Featherweight61–67 kg|rowspan=4|Featherweight59–64 kg|rowspan=4|Featherweight56–62 kg|rowspan=6 colspan=2|Bantamweight−61 kg|rowspan=5|Featherweight−60 kg |rowspan=2 colspan=4|Featherweight56–60 kg|rowspan=2|Bantamweight54–59 kg|rowspan=3 colspan=2|Bantamweight−56 kg |rowspan=2 colspan=2|Bantamweight52–56 kg |rowspan=3|Bantamweight−56 kg|rowspan=2|Flyweight−54 kg|colspan=2|Flyweight−52 kg56791010875

Weight class 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 Years Super heavyweight +110 +110 +110 +110 +110 +110 +108 +105 +105 +105 +105 +105 +109 +102 14 Heavyweight +82.5 +82.5 +82.5 +82.5 +82.5 +82.5 +90 +90 +90 +90 +90 110 110 110 110 110 110 108 105 105 105 105 105 109 102 25 First-heavyweight 100 100 100 100 99 5 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 91 94 94 94 94 94 96 18 Light-heavyweight 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 82.5 83 85 85 85 85 85 89 24 Middleweight 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 76 77 77 77 77 77 81 24 Lightweight 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 67.5 70 69 69 69 69 69 73 73 25 Featherweight 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 64 62 62 62 62 62 67 24 Bantamweight 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 59 56 56 56 56 56 61 61 20 Flyweight 52 52 52 52 52 52 54 7 Total 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 7 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 8 8 8 8 8 7 5 186

Lift 96 04 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 YearsOnehandliftsOne hand lift X 1All-around dumbbell X 1Clean and jerk X 1Snatch X 1TwohandliftsTwo hand lift X X 2Clean and jerk X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X XClean and press X X X X X X Military press X Snatch X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X XTotals Biathlon X X X X X X X X X X X Triathlon X X X X X X Mixed totals X 1

Women's events Women's weightlifting made its Olympic debut at the 2000 Games in Sydney, with seven weight classes.

Weight class 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 Years +75..+87 kg +75 +75 +75 +75 +75 +87 +81 7 75..87 kg 75 75 75 75 75 87 81 7 69..76 kg 69 69 69 69 69 76 71 7 63..64 kg 63 63 63 63 63 64 6 58..59 kg 58 58 58 58 58 59 59 7 53..55 kg 53 53 53 53 53 55 6 48..49 kg 48 48 48 48 48 49 49 7 Total 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 47

Medal table Sources:

As of the 2024 Summer Olympics and Court of Arbitration for Sport decision of March 2022 to disqualify a gold medalist in the weightlifting men's 77kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics (medals in this event have not yet been reallocated as of August 2024).

Nations

No. of nations 5 3 14 16 19 8 15 30 41 34 53 42 55 54 46 39 48 62 69 77 76 79 84 84 94 74 57 148 No. of athletes 7 5 53 107 95 29 80 120 142 105 172 149 160 188 173 172 186 226 244 243 246 249 253 259 260 196 122 2710

Multiple medalists The table shows those who have won at least 2 gold medals. Boldface denotes active weightlifters and highest medal count among all weightlifters (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Rank Weightlifter Country Gender Weights From To Gold Silver BronzeTotal 1 Pyrros Dimas M 82.5 kg / 83 kg / 85 kg 1992 2004 3 – 1 4 2 Lasha Talakhadze M +105 kg / +109 kg / +102 kg 2016 2024 3 – – 3 Lü Xiaojun M 77 kg / 81 kg 2012 2020 3 - – 3Akakios Kakiasvilis(Kakhi Kakhiashvili) M 90 kg / 99 kg / 94 kg 1992 2000 3 – – 3 Halil Mutlu M 54 kg / 56 kg 1996 2004 3 – – 3 Naim Süleymanoğlu M 60 kg / 64 kg 1988 1996 3 – – 3 7 Louis Hostin M 82.5 kg 1928 1936 2 1 – 3 Tommy Kono M 67.5 kg / 75 kg / 82.5 kg 1952 1960 2 1 – 3 Yoshinobu Miyake M 56 kg / 60 kg 1960 1968 2 1 – 3 10 Arkady Vorobyov M 82.5 kg / 90 kg 1952 1960 2 – 1 3 11 Vasily Alekseyev M +110 kg 1972 1976 2 – – 2 Waldemar Baszanowski M 67.5 kg 1964 1968 2 – – 2 Chen Yanqing F 58 kg 2004 2008 2 – – 2 John Davis M +82.5 kg / +90 kg 1948 1952 2 – – 2 Hsu Shu-ching F 53 kg 2012 2016 2 – – 2 Aleksandr Kurlovich M +110 kg 1988 1992 2 – – 2 Long Qingquan M 56 kg 2008 2016 2 – – 2 Norair Nurikyan M 56 kg / 60 kg 1972 1976 2 – – 2 Hossein Rezazadeh M +105 kg 2000 2004 2 – – 2 Shi Zhiyong M 69 kg / 73 kg 2016 2020 2 – – 2 Charles Vinci M 56 kg 1956 1960 2 – – 2 Leonid Zhabotinsky M +90 kg 1964 1968 2 – – 2 Zhan Xugang M 70 kg / 77 kg 1996 2000 2 – – 2 Rim Jong-Sim F 69 kg / 75 kg 2012 2016 2 – – 2 Li Wenwen F 81+ kg / 87+ kg 2020 2024 2 – – 2 Hou Zhihui F 49 kg 2020 2024 2 – – 2 Li Fabin M 61 kg 2020 2024 2 – – 2

See also List of Olympic medalists in weightlifting List of Olympic records in weightlifting List of Olympic venues in weightlifting World Weightlifting Championships Powerlifting at the Summer Paralympics Weightlifting at the 1906 Intercalated Games

References