Weightlifting is a competitive strength sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with the aim of successfully lifting the heaviest weights. Athletes compete in two specific ways of lifting the barbell overhead. The snatch is a wide-grip lift, in which the weighted barbell is lifted overhead in one motion. The clean and jerk is a combination lift, in which the weight is first taken from the ground to the front of the shoulders, and then from the shoulders to over the head. The sport formerly included a third lift/event known as clean and press.
Naim Süleymanoğlu was a Turkish Olympic weightlifter. He was a seven-time World Weightlifting champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist who set 46 world records. At 147 cm in height, Süleymanoğlu's short stature and great strength led to him being nicknamed "Pocket Hercules". He is widely considered as one of the greatest Olympic weightlifters of all time, with many calling him the best pound-for-pound weightlifter in the history of weightlifting.
Mark Jerrold Henry is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his 25-year career in WWE.
Paul Edward Anderson was an American weightlifter, powerlifter and strongman. He was an Olympic gold medalist, a world champion, and a two-time national champion in Olympic weightlifting. Anderson contributed significantly to the development of competitive powerlifting; due to his many world records and outstanding feats of strength, he has often been called "the strongest man who ever lived."
Delroy McQueen is a former English weightlifter and powerlifter. Delroy competed in the Commonwealth championships in 2002 in Manchester where he won, setting two new Commonwealth records. He snatched 165 kg and Clean and jerked 210 kg.
Chen Wei-ling is a Taiwanese Olympic weightlifter and powerlifter.
Karyn Marshall is an American Olympic weightlifter who won the first women's world championship in weightlifting, held in 1987. She also set 60 American and world records in women's weightlifting and in 1985 became the first woman in history to clean and jerk over 300 lb (136 kg), which she did with a lift of 303 pounds (137 kg). She became a chiropractor and runs a private practice in Shrewsbury, New Jersey while battling breast cancer since 2011. In 2011, Marshall was inducted into the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame, and she was inducted into the International Weightlifting Hall of Fame in 2015.
Sport is an important part of Tuvaluan culture, which sporting culture is based on traditional games and athletic activities and the adoption of some of the major international sports of the modern era.
Non Evans is a Welsh multi-discipline sportswoman and TV personality who has competed internationally in rugby union, rugby sevens, touch rugby, judo, weightlifting and freestyle wrestling.
Zoe Smith is an English weightlifter. In October 2010 she won a bronze medal in the women's 58 kg division at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, her first senior international competition, to become the first English woman to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal. Smith competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and finished 12th in the Women's 58 kg division. After missing the 2016 Summer Olympics following an injury, she finished eighth in the 59 kg at the 2020 Summer Olympics. At the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships she won the gold in Clean and Jerk and the bronze in the 64 kg total category. She failed to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
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.
Meena Kumari is an Indian weightlifter and appointed to the post of Inspector in Punjabi Police, who placed fifth in the women's 58 kg weight class at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Clementina Ciana Agricole is a Seychellois female weightlifter, competing in the 58 kg (128 lb) and 63 kg (139 lb) category and representing Seychelles at international competitions. She competed at world championships, including at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships. She won the bronze medal at the 2016 African Weightlifting Championships.
Olivia Broome is a para powerlifter who won a bronze medal in the under-50 kg events at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics. She is the British and world junior record holder in the under-50 kg event, and has won multiple Para Powerlifting World Cup medals. She also won the junior under-50 kg event at the 2021 World Para Powerlifting Championships, silver medal in the women's 50 kg event, and a silver medal in the lightweight event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Maximina Uepa is a weightlifter from Nauru. She won the bronze medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. She is the current Nauruan women's record-holder in the 71 kg category for overall, snatch and clean and jerk.
Solfrid Eila Amena Koanda is a Norwegian weightlifter. She is an Olympic champion and won the gold medal in the women's 81 kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she also set Olympic records in clean & jerk and total.
Tham "Thammy" Nguyen Gough is an Irish retired weightlifter and entrepreneur, known for being the first Irish weightlifter to win a senior medal at the European Weightlifting Championships.
Park Hye-jeong is a female competitive weightlifter from South Korea.
Sheli Jane McCoy is a Scottish CrossFit athlete, weightlifter and television personality, who set three Scottish weightlifting records in 2023. She appears as "Sabre" on British TV endurance sports game show Gladiators, in which she has become one of the key characters for the series' success.
Zack Edward George is an English elite CrossFit athlete, fitness model and television personality, known for appearing as "Steel" on the British television sports endurance game show Gladiators. In 2020, he won the UK CrossFit Open and was dubbed the "fittest man in the United Kingdom".
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