Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics

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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.

Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics
IOC CodeWLF
Governing bodyIWF
Events10 (men: 5; women: 5)
Summer Olympics
  • 1956
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1968
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 2028
  • 2032
  • Medalists
  • Records

Summary

Games Year Events Best Nation
1 1896 2  Denmark (1)
 Great Britain (1)
2
3 1904 2  United States (1)
4
5
6
7 1920 5  France (1)
8 1924 5  Italy (1)
9 1928 5  Germany (1)
10 1932 5  France (2)
11 1936 5  Egypt (1)
12
13
14 1948 6  United States (2)
15 1952 7  United States (3)
16 1956 7  United States (4)
17 1960 7  Soviet Union (1)
18 1964 7  Soviet Union (2)
19 1968 7  Soviet Union (3)
20 1972 9  Bulgaria (1)
21 1976 9  Soviet Union (4)
22 1980 10  Soviet Union (5)
23 1984 10  China (1)
24 1988 10  Soviet Union (6)
25 1992 10  Unified Team (1)
26 1996 10  Greece (1)
27 2000 15  China (2)
28 2004 15  China (3)
29 2008 15  China (4)
30 2012 15  China (5)
31 2016 15  China (6)
32 2020 14  China (7)
33 2024 10  China (8)

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
Heavyweight
+82.5 kg 		Heavyweight
+90 kg 		Super heavyweight
+110 kg 		Super heavyweight
+108 kg 		Super heavyweight
+105 kg 		Super heavyweight
+109 kg 		Super heavyweight
+102 kg
Heavyweight
90–110 kg 		Heavyweight
100–110 kg
Heavyweight
96–109 kg
Heavyweight
99–108 kg
Heavyweight
94–105 kg
Heavyweight
89–102 kg
First-heavyweight
90–100 kg
First-heavyweight
91–99 kg
Middle-heavyweight
81–96 kg
Middle-heavyweight
85–94 kg
Middle-heavyweight
83–91 kg
Middle-heavyweight
82.5–90 kg
Middleweight
73–89 kg
Light-heavyweight
77–85 kg
Light-heavyweight
76–83 kg
Light-heavyweight
75–82.5 kg
Middleweight
73–81 kg
Middleweight
69–77 kg
Middleweight
70–76 kg
Middleweight
67.5–75 kg
Lightweight
67–73 kg 		Lightweight
61–73 kg
Lightweight
64–70 kg
Lightweight
62–69 kg
Lightweight
60–67.5 kg
Featherweight
61–67 kg
Featherweight
59–64 kg
Featherweight
56–62 kg
Bantamweight
−61 kg
Featherweight
−60 kg 		Featherweight
56–60 kg
Bantamweight
54–59 kg
Bantamweight
−56 kg 		Bantamweight
52–56 kg 		Bantamweight
−56 kg
Flyweight
−54 kg
Flyweight
−52 kg
5 6 7 9 10 10 8 7 5
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
Middle-heavyweight 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 Years
One
hand
lifts 		One hand lift X 1
All-around dumbbell X 1
Clean and jerk X 1
Snatch X 1
Two
hand
lifts 		Two hand lift X X 2
Clean and jerk X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Clean 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 X
Totals 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).

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 China4316867
2 Soviet Union3921262
3 United States17171246
4 Bulgaria1317939
5 Iran96520
6 France94922
7 Turkey81211
8 Germany67922
9 Poland662234
10 Greece65415
11 North Korea58518
12 Italy55818
13 Thailand54817
14 Egypt54615
15 Unified Team5409
16 Russia47617
17 Chinese Taipei42511
18 Georgia4138
19 South Korea37717
20 Austria3429
21 Czechoslovakia3238
22 Hungary29920
23 Romania27312
24 Colombia26311
25 Japan231015
26 Canada2316
27 West Germany2237
28 Cuba2158
29 Ukraine2125
30 Uzbekistan2114
31 Norway2002
32 Indonesia17816
33 East Germany14611
 Kazakhstan14611
35 Great Britain1449
36 Belarus1438
37 Estonia1337
38 Belgium1214
39 Denmark1203
40 Australia1124
 Ecuador1124
42 Spain1113
43 Philippines1102
44 Mexico1034
45 Finland1023
46 Croatia1012
 Qatar1012
48 Armenia0527
49 Switzerland0224
50 Venezuela0213
51 Latvia0123
 Trinidad and Tobago0123
53 Argentina0112
 Dominican Republic0112
 India0112
 Nigeria0112
 Vietnam0112
58 Lebanon0101
 Luxembourg0101
 Samoa0101
 Singapore0101
 Turkmenistan0101
63 Sweden0044
64 Netherlands0033
65 Bahrain0011
 Cameroon0011
 Iraq0011
 Lithuania0011
 Syria0011
– Individual Neutral Athletes0011
Totals (69 entries)238236242716

Nations

Nation 96 00 04 08 12 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
 Albania       1 3 1 1 2 3 4 2 2 9
 Algeria       3 2 2 2 3 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 12
 American Samoa       2 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
 Argentina       3 3 1 8 5 2 2 1 2 3 2 2 1 1 14
 Armenia       10 4 4 6 6 7 2 3 7
 Aruba       1 1 1 3
 Australia       2 3 7 7 7 2 3 3 5 4 4 4 7 12 2 2 2 2 5 3 20
 Austria       15 10 2 10 6 4 2 4 3 1 6 5 3 6 1 1 1 2 18
 Azerbaijan       2 4 5 5 6 5
 Barbados       1 1 2
 Belarus       9 5 8 10 8 8 2 7
 Belgium       7 8 8 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 18
 Belize       1 1
 Bolivia       1 1 1 3
 Botswana       1 1
 Bosnia and Herzegovina       1 1
 Brazil       3 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 5 2 2 16
 British West Indies       1 1
 Bulgaria       3 7 5 5 9 9 10 6 10 10 9 9 2 2 3 14
 Cameroon       2 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 8
 Canada       5 5 3 3 3 4 4 4 7 3 2 2 2 2 5 3 2 5 2 19
 Chile       1 1 2 2 2 5
 China       10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 6 11
 Chinese Taipei       4 7 1 4 4 7 5 4 7 9
 Colombia       2 3 2 2 5 3 4 5 3 9 10 8 9 3 4 15
 Comoros       1 1
 Cook Islands       2 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
 Costa Rica       3 1 2
 Croatia       1 1 1 3
 Cuba       3 1 1 1 5 6 9 9 8 5 5 2 6 4 2 4 1 17
 Cyprus       1 1 2
 Czech Republic       2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8
 Czechoslovakia       2 6 7 2 6 4 1 3 2 1 3 7 10 5 5 15
 Denmark 1       5 1 1 4 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 12
 Dominican Republic       2 1 2 1 4 1 1 2 1 1 2 3 5 3 14
 East Germany       3 8 7 9 4 5
 Ecuador       1 3 1 2 2 4 3 4 3 9
 Egypt       1 1 2 8 8 6 7 5 3 2 10 5 5 1 2 5 5 8 9 5 19
 El Salvador       2 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
 Estonia       3 8 4 4 1 1 6
 Fiji       1 1 1 1 2 2 6
 Finland       1 4 7 1 2 4 5 9 5 7 5 4 4 2 1 1 1 2 18
 France       10 14 10 5 8 9 5 3 6 2 5 3 8 4 2 4 6 2 3 5 4 4 5 4 4 25
 Georgia       1 3 2 3 3 4 4 3 8
 Germany 1   1     10 4 10 5 10 10 5 4 5 5 5 3 14
 Ghana       1 1 1 3
 Great Britain 1       2 10 5 5 10 5 5 7 5 7 9 8 10 10 10 6 1 1 2 1 5 2 4 1 25
 Greece 3   1     1 1 2 4 4 5 9 4 5 10 8 10 4 1 1 1 18
 Guam       2 1 1 1 4
 Guatemala       1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 11
 Guyana       2 1 2 1 1 1 6
 Haiti       1 1 2
 Honduras       1 1 1 3
 Hong Kong       1 1
 Hungary 1       2 3 2 5 7 7 9 9 10 10 10 7 7 7 1 1 1 1 19
 Iceland       1 2 1 3 4
 India       1 2 2 3 1 2 1 1 1 2 4 2 3 5 3 3 2 2 1 1 19
 Independent Olympic Athletes       1 2 2
 Indonesia       1 1 2 3 1 1 3 5 4 1 3 6 5 6 7 5 3 17
 Iran       5 7 7 5 5 4 3 7 5 6 6 3 6 5 2 2 16
 Iraq       5 7 1 5 2 5 1 1 1 1 1 11
 Ireland       2 1 2
 Israel       2 3 1 1 3 1 1 1 8
 Italy       5 15 6 4 4 1 6 4 7 2 3 6 1 3 3 6 3 2 4 4 1 2 4 3 24
 Jamaica       2 1 1 3
 Japan       1 5 7 7 7 9 9 9 10 10 7 8 4 6 5 7 7 3 18
 Kazakhstan       7 6 3 8 8 8 3 7
 Kenya       1 4 1 1 1 1 6
 Kiribati       1 1 1 1 4
 Kuwait       1 1 2
 Kyrgyzstan       2 1 1 1 2 1 6
 Latvia       4 1 2 5 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 11
 Lebanon       1 2 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 1 10
 Libya       2 2 1 2 1 5
 Lithuania       1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
 Luxembourg       3 4 3 2 2 5
 Madagascar       1 1 1 2 1 5
 Malaysia       3 2 2
 Malaysia       6 2 1 1 1 1 6
 Malta       1 1 2
 Marshall Islands       1 1 2
 Mauritius       1 2 1 1 1 1 1 7
 Mexico       3 2 1 1 1 3 2 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 4 4 1 17
 Federated States of Micronesia       1 1 1 1 4
 Moldova       5 3 3 5 2 2 1 1 8
 Monaco       1 1 2
 Mongolia       4 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 8
 Morocco       4 2 1 1 1 2 1 7
 Myanmar       1 2 3 2 3 1 1 3 1 9
 Nauru       3 2 3 1 1 1 1 7
 Nepal       2 2 1 1 1 5
 Netherlands       5 3 10 2 2 1 1 7
 Netherlands Antilles       5 3 2 1 4
 New Zealand       1 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 1 2 2 1 2 5 1 16
 Nicaragua       1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 8
 Nigeria       2 6 4 1 1 5 2 3 2 1 10
 North Korea       1 3 5 10 2 4 4 7 8 8 10
 Norway       3 1 1 4 2 1 1 1 8
 Pakistan       2 1 3 2 1 1 2 7
 Palau       1 1 2
 Panama       1 1 1 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 1 11
 Papua New Guinea       2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 8
 Peru       3 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 9
 Philippines       1 2 2 2 1 3 3 2 3 1 1 2 12
 Poland       4 5 7 7 7 9 9 10 7 9 5 9 7 10 9 5 16
 Portugal       1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 9
 Puerto Rico       3 2 4 6 6 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 14
 Qatar       2 2 1 3
 Republic of China       3 3 2 7 5 1 6
 Romania       4 2 2 2 1 10 10 4 6 5 5 7 5 4 4 15
 Russia       9 9 9 10 10 5
 Samoa       2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 9
 San Marino       1 1 2
 Saudi Arabia       1 4 1 1 4
 Serbia       1 1
 Serbia and Montenegro       1 1
 Seychelles       1 1 1 1 1 5
 Sierra Leone       1 1 2
 Singapore       3 3 1 2 1 1 6
 Slovakia       3 1 3 1 1 1 6
 Solomon Islands       1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
 South Africa       2 4 3 3 1 1 1 7
 South Korea       8 4 6 7 7 6 1 9 10 10 7 8 8 9 10 7 16
 Soviet Union       7 7 6 7 7 9 9 10 9 9
 Spain       2 1 1 4 6 6 1 3 2 2 2 4 12
 Sri Lanka       1 1 1 1 4
 Sudan       2 1 1 3
 Swaziland       1 2 2
 Sweden       6 5 2 2 4 7 1 1 3 2 2 5 6 6 3 5 2 1 1 19
 Switzerland       2 9 10 5 3 4 3 1 1 1 1 11
 Syria       4 2 1 1 1 2 1 7
 Tajikistan       1 1
 Thailand       4 2 1 1 1 1 5 5 7 7 9 11
 Tonga       1 1 1 1 4
 Trinidad and Tobago       1 2 2 2 1 5
 Tunisia       2 1 1 2 2 2 2 7
 Turkey       1 1 1 2 2 4 5 6 9 7 9 6 9 4 14
 Turkmenistan       1 1 2 3 2 5
 Tuvalu       1 1 2
 Uganda       2 2 1 1 1 5
 Ukraine       7 10 9 9 9 8 6
 Unified Team       10 1
 United Team of Germany       2 7 6 3
 United Arab Emirates       1 1 2
 United States       10 10 12 7 7 7 7 7 9 9 10 10 10 10 6 5 6 3 4 20
 Uruguay       1 1 1 1 4
 Uzbekistan       5 2 3 2 6 5 6
 Venezuela       2 1 1 3 1 2 3 7 3 4 10
 Vietnam       1 2 2 4 4
 Virgin Islands       1 1
 West Germany       5 7 6 6 7 5
 Yugoslavia       2 2 2
 Zimbabwe       1 1
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 94 148
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 2710
Year 96 00 04 08 12 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

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 Bronze Total
1 Pyrros Dimas  Greece M 82.5 kg / 83 kg / 85 kg 1992 2004 3 – 1 4
2 Lasha Talakhadze  Georgia M +105 kg / +109 kg / +102 kg 2016 2024 3 – – 3
Lü Xiaojun  China M 77 kg / 81 kg 2012 2020 3 - – 3
Akakios Kakiasvilis
(Kakhi Kakhiashvili)		  Unified Team
 Greece		 M 90 kg / 99 kg / 94 kg 1992 2000 3 – – 3
Halil Mutlu  Turkey M 54 kg / 56 kg 1996 2004 3 – – 3
Naim Süleymanoğlu  Turkey M 60 kg / 64 kg 1988 1996 3 – – 3
7 Louis Hostin  France M 82.5 kg 1928 1936 2 1 – 3
Tommy Kono  United States M 67.5 kg / 75 kg / 82.5 kg 1952 1960 2 1 – 3
Yoshinobu Miyake  Japan M 56 kg / 60 kg 1960 1968 2 1 – 3
10 Arkady Vorobyov  Soviet Union M 82.5 kg / 90 kg 1952 1960 2 – 1 3
11 Vasily Alekseyev  Soviet Union M +110 kg 1972 1976 2 – – 2
Waldemar Baszanowski  Poland M 67.5 kg 1964 1968 2 – – 2
Chen Yanqing  China F 58 kg 2004 2008 2 – – 2
John Davis  United States M +82.5 kg / +90 kg 1948 1952 2 – – 2
Hsu Shu-ching  Chinese Taipei F 53 kg 2012 2016 2 – – 2
Aleksandr Kurlovich  Soviet Union
 Unified Team		 M +110 kg 1988 1992 2 – – 2
Long Qingquan  China M 56 kg 2008 2016 2 – – 2
Norair Nurikyan  Bulgaria M 56 kg / 60 kg 1972 1976 2 – – 2
Hossein Rezazadeh  Iran M +105 kg 2000 2004 2 – – 2
Shi Zhiyong  China M 69 kg / 73 kg 2016 2020 2 – – 2
Charles Vinci  United States M 56 kg 1956 1960 2 – – 2
Leonid Zhabotinsky  Soviet Union M +90 kg 1964 1968 2 – – 2
Zhan Xugang  China M 70 kg / 77 kg 1996 2000 2 – – 2
Rim Jong-Sim  Democratic People's Republic of Korea F 69 kg / 75 kg 2012 2016 2 – – 2
Li Wenwen  China F 81+ kg / 87+ kg 2020 2024 2 – – 2
Hou Zhihui  China F 49 kg 2020 2024 2 – – 2
Li Fabin  China 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

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