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.
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.
Giorgi Asanidze is a former Georgian weightlifter, Olympic Champion, World Champion, and three time European Champion who competed in the 85 kg and 77 kg categories.
Aruba sent a delegation to compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States from 19 July to 4 August 1996. This was Aruba's third appearance at a Summer Olympic Games since separating from the Netherlands Antilles. The Aruban delegation consisted of three competitors, track and field athlete Miguel Janssen, weightlifter Junior Faro, and cyclist Lucien Dirksz. Janseen was eliminated in the first round of the men's 200 metres, Faro finished 21st in the men's middleweight, and Dirksz failed to finish his event.
Ronny Weller is a German weightlifter who competed for East Germany and later for Germany.
Rick Holbrook was an Olympic weightlifter for the United States.
Blagoy Blagoev is a retired Bulgarian weightlifter. Between 1976 and 1984 he claimed seven gold and five silver medals at the Summer Olympics and World and European championships. He set 18 world records. 13 of them were in the snatch. His last snatch world record was 195.5 kg in the 90 kg weight class, set on 1 May 1983 in Varna and remains the heaviest weight ever snatched by a middle heavyweight. Blagoev was twice declared the Best Weightlifter in the World by the International Weightlifting Federation - in 1982 and 1983. Blagoev was named Sportsperson of the Year in Bulgaria for 1982.
The Cook Islands sent a delegation to compete at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain from 25 July to 9 August 1992. This was the island nation's second appearance at a Summer Olympics, following the 1988 Summer Olympics. The delegation to Barcelona consisted of two competitors, track and field athlete Mark Sherwin and weightlifter Sam Nunuke Pera. Sherwin failed to advance out of his heat in the men's 100 meters, while Pera did not complete a lift in the men's 100 kilograms category.
Nauru competed in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States from 19 July to 4 August 1996. The delegation consisted of three weightlifters; Quincy Detenamo, Gerard Garabwan, and Marcus Stephen. Their best performances were by Detenamo, who came 20th in the men's 76 kg category and Garabwan who finished 24th in the men's 91 kg event. Stephen failed to finish his event, but would later become President of the Republic.
Ilya Aleksandrovich Ilyin is a retired Kazakhstani weightlifter who won four world championships and was regarded as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time, until banned for doping abuse in both 2008 and 2012 Olympics. 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.
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.
Imre Földi was a Hungarian weightlifter. Competing at a record of five Olympic Games, he won a gold medal in 1972 and silver medals in 1964 and 1968.
Mohamad Kheir Traboulsi was an amateur Lebanese weightlifter. At the 1972 Summer Olympics, he won the silver medal in the men's Middleweight category.
Dmitriy Vyacheslavovich Klokov is a Russian former Olympic weightlifter, and World Champion. He competed in the 105 kg category.
Kaarlo Olavi Kangasniemi is a retired Finnish weightlifter. Between 1968 and 1972 he won one Olympic, two world and two European titles in the 90 kg division, becoming the only Finnish weightlifter to win either an Olympic or world title. In the same period he set 16 ratified world records: four in the press, seven in the snatch and five in the total. He placed sixth at the 1972 Olympics and seventh in 1964. Kangasniemi was chosen as the world's best weightlifter in 1969 and as the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year in 1968 and 1969. After retiring from senior competitions in 1973 he worked as a weightlifting coach and weightlifting commentator with Eurosport; he continued competing in the masters category, winning a world title and setting a clean and jerk world record. In 1987 he was a candidate to the Parliament of Finland from the Finnish Rural Party, but was not elected. In 1998 he was inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Israel Militosyan is an Armenian former weightlifter. He was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1989.
Mark Spooner is a New Zealand weightlifter. Spooner represented New Zealand at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he competed for the men's lightweight category (69 kg). Spooner placed 21st in this event, as he successfully lifted 123 kg in the single-motion snatch, and hoisted 158 kg in the two-part, shoulder-to-overhead clean and jerk, for a total of 281 kg.
Chen Lijun is a Chinese weightlifter, Olympic Champion, five 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.
Rebeka Salsabil Ibrahim is a Latvian-born Qatari weightlifter, two time Junior World Champion and two time European Champion competing in the 58 kg division until 2018 and 59 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
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.
