Weightlifting in Olympics: Everything you need to know

By Rahul Venkat
7 min|Updated on 28 October 2024 12:25 GMT+0
Weightlifting.
Picture by Getty Images

A part of the Olympics programme since 1896, weightlifting has evolved over the years to become an enthralling display of human strength and determination.

One of the most fascinating sports to watch, weightlifting is an embodiment of the depths of human strength and courage.

A sport driven as much by technique as raw strength, weightlifters are accustomed to lifting as much as twice or in some cases, even thrice their bodyweight. One wrong lift can cause multiple injuries.

A historic sport that traces its roots to Africa, South Asia and ancient Greece, the modern version took shape sometime in the 19th century.

The governing body of global weightlifting, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) was formed in 1905 and holds the weightlifting world championships for both men and women every year, with the exception of an Olympic year.

While the sport’s name is quite self-explanatory, it is not quite as simple as declaring the winner among whoever has lifted the heaviest weights.

Rules and scoring in weightlifting

There are two stages in modern Olympic weightlifting – the snatch and the clean and jerk.

The snatch is where the weightlifter picks up the barbell and lifts it above his head in one singular motion.

In the clean and jerk, the weightlifter is first required to pick up the barbell and bring it up to his chest (clean). The lifter must then pause and extend his arms and legs to lift it above the head (jerk) with a straight elbow and have to hold it there until a buzzer is sounded.

A weightlifter is given three snatch attempts and three clean and jerk attempts each. A weightlifter’s best attempt at snatch and the clean and jerk are then added up and the one with the highest combined weight lifted is declared the winner.

In case two participants have lifted the same combined weight, then the one with the lower bodyweight is declared the winner. In the event of the bodyweight also being equal, the one with lesser attempts will be the winner.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, though, ties were broken in the following order:

  1. Best result - highest first
  2. best clean & jerk result - lowest first
  3. best clean & jerk result's attempt number - least number of attempts first
  4. previous attempts - least number of attempts first
  5. lot number - lowest first

A participant is allowed to increase the weight for his next attempt after a successful lift. The one who decides to lift the lowest weight in the first attempt is allowed to go first and he must attempt to lift within one minute of his name being called out in any tournament.

The barbell is made of steel and the heavy weights, covered with rubber, are added to the sides.

Weightlifters are allowed to use tapes to cover parts of their body – like the wrists and thumbs – to prevent injury. They also often rub chalk on their hands to make it dry before a lift, which prevents the barbell from slipping.

Weightlifting at the Olympics

Weightlifting forged an early connection with the modern Olympic Games. It was included in the inaugural edition in 1896 at Athens, Greece as part of the field events in track and field athletics.

The 1896 Olympics had two weightlifting events – lifting with one hand and lifting with two hands. Great Britain’s Lauceston Elliot was crowned as the ‘one-hand’ champion while Viggo Jensen of Denmark was the first ‘two-hand’ Olympic champion.

However, weightlifting was excluded from the 1904, 1908 and 1912 Olympics, only making a comeback at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, and has had a permanent presence since then.

The one-hand event was discontinued after the Paris 1924 Olympics.

Olympic weightlifting earlier held the ‘clean and press’, the snatch, and the clean and jerk events. However, starting with the 1972 Munich Olympics, the clean and press – a variation of the clean and jerk with a three-step process - was discontinued due to difficulty in judging the techniques of weightlifters.

Weight categories, ranging from 60kg to 82.5kg were introduced at the 1920 Olympics.

The lowest weight category (52kg) was started at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, an edition which also saw the introduction of the +110 kg category, the highest.

While the sport was reserved only for men at the Olympics, a women’s weightlifting event was introduced at the Olympics for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

That edition was a historic one for India as Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic bronze in the 69kg category.

Karnam Malleswari was also the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.

Picture by Getty Images

At Tokyo 2020, there were seven weight classes for men and as many for women. The number of weight classes. however, was trimmed to five each at Paris 2024. The men competed in the 61kg, 73kg, 89kg, 102kg and +102kg while the women lifted in the 49kg, 59kg, 71kg, 81kg and +81kg classes.

Most successful Olympic weightlifters

Among male weightlifters, Greece’s Pyrros Dimas is the most successful Olympian, having won three gold medals and a bronze medal spread across the 82.5/83/85 kg categories in different years.

Another Greek weightlifter Akakios Kakiasvilis, Georgia's Lasha Talakhadze and Turkiye’s Halil Mutlu and Naim Suleymanoglu have also won three Olympic golds each.

The People's Republic of China’s Chen Yanqing, Li Wenwen and Hou Zhihui, Chinese Taipei's Hsu Shu-Ching and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Rim Jong-Sim are the most successful women weightlifters at the Olympics, each having won two golds.

Olympic weightlifting records

The weightlifting Olympics records were reset during Tokyo 2020 due to a complete reshuffle in the weight categories. Efforts, however, were only designated as records only if someone bettered the pre-set Olympic Standard. Classes were also trimmed down for Paris 2024 with only a few retained and the rest changed.

Here are the weightlifting records at the Olympics.

Category, weight, name, nationality and edition of the Games:

Men's Olympic weightlifting records

61kg

Snatch - 143kg - Li Fabin (CHN) - Paris 2024

Clean & Jerk- 172kg - Li Fabin (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

Total - 313kg - Li Fabin (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

73kg

Snatch - 166kg - Shi Zhiyong (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

Clean & Jerk - 199kg - Rizki Juniansyah (INA) - Paris 2024

Total - 364kg - Shi Zhiyong (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

89kg

Snatch - 180kg (Olympic Standard)

Clean & Jerk - 224kg - Karlos Nasar (BUL) - Paris 2024

Total - 404kg - Karlos Nasar (BUL) - Paris 2024

102kg

Snatch - 186kg (Olympic Standard)

Clean & Jerk- 226kg (Olympic Standard)

Total - 410kg (Olympic Standard)

+102kg

Snatch - 223kg - Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) - Tokyo 2020

Clean & Jerk - 265kg - Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) - Tokyo 2020

Total - 488kg - Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) - Tokyo 2020

Women's Olympic weightlifting records

49kg

Snatch - 94kg - Hou Zhihui (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

Clean & Jerk - 117kg - Hou Zhihui (CHN) - Paris 2024

Total - 210kg - Hou Zhihui (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

59kg

Snatch - 107kg - Luo Shifang (CHN) - Paris 2024

Clean & Jerk - 134kg - Luo Shifang (CHN) - Paris 2024

Total - 241kg - Luo Shifang (CHN) - Paris 2024

71kg

Snatch - 117kg - Olivia Reeves (USA) - Paris 2024

Clean & Jerk - 148kg (Olympic Standard)

Total - 265kg (Olympic Standard)

81kg

Snatch - 122kg (Olympic Standard)

Clean & Jerk - 154kg - Solfrid Koanda (NOR) - Paris 2024

Total - 275kg - Solfrid Koanda (NOR) - Paris 2024

+81kg

Snatch - 140kg - Li Wenwen (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

Clean & Jerk - 180kg - Li Wenwen (CHN) - Tokyo 2020

Total - 320kg - Li Wenwen (CHN) - Tokyo 2020