The 1959 Men's World Weightlifting Championships were held in Warsaw, Poland from September 29 to October 4, 1959. There were 85 men in action from 19 nations.
The Soviet Union earned the most gold medals (4) and the most overall medals (7). Host nation Poland finished second with one gold and five overall medals.
Four World Records were broken: in 82.5 kg category, Rudolf Plyukfelder of the Soviet Union set two new world records in the snatch (141 kg) and the total (457.5 kg), while Ireneusz Paliński of Poland set a new world record in the clean & jerk (178.5 kg). Plyukfelder's total would have also won the 90 kg category.
In the 90+ kg category, Yury Vlasov of the Soviet Union broke the world record in the snatch (153 kg). [1]
Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bantamweight 56 kg | Vladimir Stogov Soviet Union | 332.5 kg | Marian Jankowski Poland | 320.0 kg | Imre Földi Hungary | 295.0 kg |
Featherweight 60 kg | Marian Zieliński Poland | 365.0 kg | Isaac Berger United States | 362.5 kg | Sebastiano Mannironi Italy | 350.0 kg |
Lightweight 67.5 kg | Viktor Bushuev Soviet Union | 385.0 kg | Akop Faradzhyan Soviet Union | 370.0 kg | Abdul-Wahid Aziz Iraq | 362.5 kg |
Middleweight 75 kg | Tommy Kono United States | 425.0 kg | Fyodor Bogdanovsky Soviet Union | 417.5 kg | Jan Bochenek Poland | 392.5 kg |
Light heavyweight 82.5 kg | Rudolf Plyukfelder Soviet Union | 457.5 kg | Ireneusz Paliński Poland | 432.5 kg | Jim George United States | 417.5 kg |
Middle heavyweight 90 kg | Louis Martin Great Britain | 445.0 kg | Arkady Vorobyov Soviet Union | 445.0 kg | Czesław Białas Poland | 422.5 kg |
Heavyweight +90 kg | Yury Vlasov Soviet Union | 500.0 kg | James Bradford United States | 492.5 kg | Ivan Veselinov Bulgaria | 455.0 kg |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Soviet Union | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
2 | Poland | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
3 | United States | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
4 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
5 | Bulgaria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Hungary | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Iraq | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (8 entries) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev was a Soviet weightlifter. He set 80 world-records and 81 Soviet records in weightlifting and won Olympic gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 games.
Andrei Rybakou is a former Belarusian weightlifter, Olympian and two-time World Champion who competed in the 85 kg category. In 2016, after a retest of his 2008 samples tested positive for Dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone and Stanozolol his performance at the 2008 Olympic Games was disqualified, as well as his Olympic record and World record set during the competition. He was also ordered to return his silver medal.
Yuri Norayrovich Vardanyan was a Soviet Armenian weightlifter. Vardanyan won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve a 400 kilogram total in the 82.5 kg weight category. During his career he set several world records. He trained at Lokomotiv in Leninakan, Armenia. He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Cao Lei is a Chinese weightlifter. She was born in north China's Hebei Province and was raised in northeastern Heilongjiang Province.
Ilya Aleksandrovich Ilyin is a retired Kazakhstani weightlifter who won four world championships. On 12 December, 2015 at the President's Cup in Grozny, Russia, Ilyin set two world records in the −105 kg class. He lifted 246 kg in the clean and jerk and 437 kg in the total. Ilyin was named IWF World Weightlifter of the Year four times: in 2005, 2006, 2014, and 2015.
Rudolf Vladimirovich Plyukfelder is a retired Soviet weightlifter and weightlifting coach. As a competitor he won world titles in 1959 and 1961 and an Olympic gold medal in 1964. As a coach he prepared a series of Olympic champions including Aleksey Vakhonin, Vasily Alekseyev, David Rigert, Nikolay Kolesnikov, Aleksandr Voronin and Viktor Tregubov.
Aleksey Ivanovich Vakhonin was a former Russian weightlifter and Olympic champion who competed for the Soviet Union. He won a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Lü Xiaojun is a Chinese weightlifter. He is a three-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion competing in the 77 kg category until 2018 and 81 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. He has been provisionally banned for EPO use since December 2022.
Israel Militosyan is an Armenian former weightlifter. He was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1989.
Kuo Hsing-chun is a Taiwanese Amis weightlifter, Olympic gold medalist, five time world champion, two time Universiade champion, Asian Games champion, and five time Asian champion, competing in the 58 kg division until 2018 and 59 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. She has set 11 senior world records in her career.
Fernando Saraiva Reis is a Brazilian weightlifter. He competed at both the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Rio Games finishing 11th and 5th overall respectively. He won a bronze medal in the 2018 World Championships, and he is a three-time Pan American Games champion.
Weightlifting was introduced to Armenia in the late 1920s and became widely practiced after World War II. Today, it is one of the country's most popular sports. The sport is regulated by the Armenian Weightlifting Federation. The first weightlifters from Soviet Armenia made successful appearances the international stage in the 1970s. Vardan Militosyan won a silver at the 1976 Olympics, and later Yurik Vardanyan became an Olympic, World and European champion through the late 1970s and the early 1980s. Oksen Mirzoyan and Yurik Sarkisyan rose to top positions in the 1980s. After its independence from the Soviet Union, Armenia successfully held its weightlifting traditions and continues to be one of the strongest nations in Europe. In 2008, the Armenia team placed first at the European Championship. In the 2008 Summer Olympics Armenia won three bronze medals. Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan is Armenia's only world champion with his successful appearance in 2010.
Chen Lijun is a Chinese weightlifter, Olympic Champion, four time World Champion and two time Asian Champion competing in the 62 kg division until 2018 and 67 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
George Kobaladze is a Georgian–Canadian weightlifter who has attained numerous successes at prestigious international competitions in the super-heavyweight category (+105 kg), including:
Mohamed Ehab Youssef Ahmed Mahmoud, known as Mohamed Mahmoud or Mohamed Ehab, is an Egyptian weightlifter, and World Champion competing in the 77 kg category until 2018 and 81 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Shi Zhiyong is a Chinese weightlifter, two time Olympic Champion, three time World Champion and four time Asian Champion competing in the 69 kg category until 2018 and 73 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Lasha Talakhadze is a Georgian weightlifter, holding the all-time world records regardless of weight category in the snatch, the clean and jerk and the total since 2021.
Simon Martirosyan is an Armenian weightlifter, Olympian, two time World Champion, and two time European Champion competing in the 105 kg category until 2018 and 109 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
David Carlyle Ashman was an American male weightlifter, who competed in the heavyweight class and represented United States at international competitions.
Talha Talib is a Pakistani weightlifter from Gujranwala. He is the Pakistani national champion in the 62 kg category. He set a new record at the games in snatch as he lifted 132 kg in the third attempt with 127 kg and 130 kg in the first two attempts, respectively. He was also a gold medalist at the 2016 Commonwealth Youth Weightlifting Championships in Penang. He lifted 258 kg to clinch the gold. He is currently the top No. 1 ranked weightlifter of Pakistan.