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.
A squat is a strength exercise in which the trainee lowers their hips from a standing position and then stands back up. During the descent, the hip and knee joints flex while the ankle joint dorsiflexes; conversely the hip and knee joints extend and the ankle joint plantarflexes when standing up. Squats also help the hip muscles.
Oleg Perepetchenov is a Russian powerlifter and former weightlifter.
The Wilks coefficient or Wilks formula is a mathematical coefficient that can be used to measure the relative strengths of powerlifters despite the different weight classes of the lifters. Robert Wilks, CEO of Powerlifting Australia, is the author of the formula.
Zoran Primorac is a retired male table tennis player from Croatia. He is a two-time winner of the World Cup and one of only three table tennis players to have competed at seven Olympic Games. His highest ITTF world ranking was number 2, in 1998.
María Isabel Urrutia Ocoró is a former weightlifter, athlete and politician from Colombia. She won the first ever gold medal for Colombia at the Summer Olympic Games.
Mikhail Viktorovich Koklyaev is a Russian weightlifter, powerlifter, strongman and boxer. He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile strength athletes of all time.
Ivan Chakarov, also known as "James Dean" of weightlifting, born 1966, is a Bulgarian world class weightlifter who won gold medals in the 91 kg class at the 1993 World Weightlifting Championships in Melbourne, Australia and in the 90 kg class at the 1991 European Weightlifting Championships in Władysławowo, Poland. He also competed in the men's middle heavyweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Chakarov won European Cup with the team of Bulgaria in Angers 1988 and Sofia 1989. He began training in 1979 at the Chernomorets Burgas Club. His first coach is Konstantin Darov. Chakarov competed for Chernomorets until 1985. After that, until the end of his long and successful career, he competed only for CSKA Sofia. His personal coaches were Andon Nikolov, Rumen Alexandrov and Neno Terziyski. Chakarov has set two world records.
Aurélio Fernández Miguel is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic champion, and later politician. Among his best sporting achievements are his gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Szymon Piotr Kołecki is a Polish former Olympic Champion weightlifter and current mixed martial artist. He was the silver medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and a gold medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, both in the 94 kg categories.
Manfred Nerlinger is a German former weightlifter, trainer and entrepreneur.
Evgeny Alexandrovich Chigishev is a former Russian weightlifter.
Andreas Letz is a German weightlifter. He competed in the 56 kg and 60 kg categories, and set two world records in the clean and jerk, and one in the total.
Wilfried Hartung is a retired German swimmer. Born in East Berlin, East Germany, he competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay in 1972. He is the divorced husband of two-time silver Olympic swimmer Gabriele Wetzko.
Kim Min-soo is a South Korean former judoka, professional mixed martial artist and K-1 kickboxer. He is best known for becoming a K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Seoul finalist and also winning a Silver Medal in Judo at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He is also known for his fights with WWE professional wrestler and UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, WWE wrestler and K-1 fighter Sean O'Haire, and NFL player turned kickboxer and New Japan Pro-Wrestling contender Bob Sapp. Min-soo holds a notable kickboxing win over Muay Thai world champion Mourad Bouzidi. He announced his retirement from contact sports in 2011, with subsequent stints as color commentator for Japanese and Korean mixed martial arts and professional wrestling events. Kim is also the head judo coach for the Korean Top Team.
Aleksandar Varbanov was a weightlifter for Bulgaria. Varbanov is one of the greatest weightlifters of all-time. Alexander has the 9th highest Sinclair ever of 485.78 made up of a 167.5 kg snatch and a 215 kg clean and jerk at under 75 kg in body weight! He is without a doubt the greatest clean and jerker of that bodyweight of all-time. As well as being a sensational athlete, Alexander Varbanov was part of the most dominant team in weightlifting history: The Bulgarian national team of the 1980s. He was also coached by the most successful coach of all-time, the great Ivan Abadjiev, a man whom Varbanov referred to as being ‘closer to me than my father. Alex has won numerous World Championships and European Championships in the 67.5 and 75 kg bodyweight divisions and a Bronze Medal from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He has earned 10 official world records two still current to this date, 215.5 kg Clean and Jerk and 382.5 kg Total. He started training in 1977. Until 1981 he was a competitor of the native Novi Pazar. Then in the period 1981-1984 he competed for CSKA Sofia. Then until 1990 he was part of the Levski club. From 1990 to 1995 Varbanov competed for the German team AC Mutterstadt in Weightlifting Bundesliga. He has built a strong reputation of a weightlifting professional. He has a Master’s degree from the National Sports Academy of Bulgaria and is a Honored Master of Sports. Alex is NCCP certified Olympic Weightlifting Competition Development coach. He now lives and works as a weightlifting trainer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Stefan Petrov Topurov, is a former weightlifter, Olympian and World Champion from Bulgaria.
Krzysztof Radzikowski is a professional strongman competitor from Głowno, Poland. He has competed in 112 International strongman competitions and has won 24 of them, making him the sixth most decorated strongman in history following Žydrūnas Savickas, Mariusz Pudzianowski, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Brian Shaw and Aivars Šmaukstelis.
Gor Minasyan is an Armenian-Bahraini weightlifter, and Olympic silver medalist (2016) competing in the super-heavyweight category.
Angel Angelov Genchev is a Bulgarian weightlifter who competed for Bulgaria. He claimed the gold medal in weightlifting at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 67.5 kg but was disqualified after he tested positive for furosemide, an IOC banned substance. It became a scandal because earlier in the meet fellow Bulgarian weightlifter Mitko Grablev had also been disqualified, after claiming a gold medal in his division, when his drug test came back positive, also for furosemide. The Bulgarian weightlifting team was forced to withdraw midway through the Weightlifting competition. Of six athletes known to have lifted more than triple their bodyweight, Genchev's 202.5 kg world record was the heaviest ever performed in competition. Genchev is a European champion in the 75 kg category from Cardiff in 1988. He was also a bronze medalist at the 1994 World Championships in Istanbul. He won the European Cup in Reims 1986 and Miskolc 1987 with the team of Bulgaria. There he set a world record in snatch - 170 kg. Angel is a four-time World and European junior champion.
France 
