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.
Melanie Roach is an Olympic weightlifter for the United States. She lives in Bonney Lake, Washington, where she owns Roach Gymnastics, Inc.
María Alexandra Escobar Guerrero is an Ecuadorian weightlifter.
Christine Girard is a Canadian weightlifter from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. She competes in the 63 kg division. Girard was the first Canadian female to win a medal in weightlifting when she won gold at the 2012 London Olympics. She also won Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games titles in her weight class and has won multiple medals in each of those competitions. She holds the Commonwealth games record and the Pan-American Games record in the Clean and Jerk.
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.
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.
Karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney, which made her the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. In 1992, she participated in the Asian championship which took place in Thailand and stood second and won three silver medals. She also won three Bronze medals in the world championship.
Seen Lee is an Australian weightlifter. She won a bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and a silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She represented Australia in weightlifting at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Sarah Elizabeth Robles is an American weightlifter. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and earned a bronze medal in weightlifting at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first US athlete to medal in Olympic weightlifting in 16 years. She repeated her feat in the +87 kg category at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, once again earning bronze, and becoming the first US woman to earn two Olympic weightlifting medals.
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.
Nahla Ramadan Mohamed is an Egyptian weightlifter and the pioneer of weightlifting in Egypt, Africa and the Arab world. She competed for Egypt at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, competing in the heavyweight division, she did not finish the competition, being unable to register a lift in the clean and jerk. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the super-heavyweight category and finished fifth.
Mirabai Chanu is an Indian weightlifter. She won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Women's 49 kg event. She has won gold medals at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games. She was awarded the Padma Shri and Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna by the Government of India in 2018.
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.
Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed is an Egyptian weightlifter who won a bronze medal in the women's 69 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the silver medal in the women's 81kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She won the gold medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships.
Neisi Patricia DájomesBarrera is an Ecuadorian weightlifter, who is the 2020 Tokyo 76 kg Olympic Champion, a 6 time Pan American Champion, Pan American Games Champion and a 3 time Junior World Champion. As of 2024, she is the only female Ecuadorian athlete to win multiple Olympic medals. She competed in the 75 kg category until 2018 and 76 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. She is the older sister of Angie Palacios.
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.
Laurel Hubbard is a New Zealand weightlifter. Selected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics, she was the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympic Games. Prior to making her Olympic debut, Hubbard achieved a ranking of 7th in the IWF's women's +87 kg division.
Katherine Vibert is an American weightlifter, Olympian, World Champion, Pan American champion and Junior World Champion competing in the 69 kg category until 2018 and 71 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. She is a winner of the IWF Female Lifter of the Year for 2019.
Tham "Thammy" Nguyen Gough is an Irish retired weightlifter, 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.
