Weightlifting is a 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.
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.
Andrei Rybakou is a Belarusian former 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.
Jaber Saeed Salem is a Qatari weightlifter who competed in the Men's 105+ kg weight class at the 2000 Summer Olympics and finished fourth with a 460 kg total. He was born in Bulgaria.
Zhang Guozheng is a Chinese weightlifter. Zhang is a World champion, Olympic champion and World Record holder. In January, 1999, Zhang Guozheng was named a member of the National Men's weightlifting team. He ranked fourth at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 in the 69 kg class. On October 3, 2002, at the Busan Asian Games, Zhang Guozheng took gold in the 69 kg class with a total score of 345 kilograms. In 2004, Zhang Guozeng won the Athens Olympic Games in the 69 kg class champion. On December 3, 2006, at the 15th Asian Games, Zhang Guozheng totaled 336 kg for a gold medal with a 152 kg snatch and a 184 kg clean and jerk. Zhang retired after 2008 and now serves as the deputy head coach for the men's weightlifting team.
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.
Stefan Khristov Botev is an Olympic weightlifter who represented Bulgaria and later for Australia. He was coached by Ivan Abadzhiev. Botev is a two-time world and European champion, winner of the World Cup in 1988 and was voted as Bulgaria's Sportsperson of the Year in 1990. Stefan is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist - once for Bulgaria in 1992 and once for Australia in 1996. Botev is a three-time gold medalist from the Goodwill Games in Seattle in 1990.
Mohammad Nasiri Seresht is a retired Iranian weightlifter. He competed at the 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics and won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal. He also won gold medals at the Asian Games in 1966, 1970 and 1974 and at the world championships in 1968-70 and 1973–74, placing second in 1972 and third in 1966, 1971 and 1976. Between 1966 and 1973 he set 15 ratified world records: 10 in clean and jerk, 3 in the press and 2 in the total. In 1995 he was inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Jeane Elizabeth Lassen is a Canadian weightlifter. Lassen is from Whitehorse, Yukon and is one of few Yukon athletes to break into the world scene and is Yukon's first Summer Olympian. Weightlifting official Moira Lassen is her mother.
Nauru competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, that were celebrated in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. Nauru was represented by the Nauru Olympic Committee, and was the only nation out of 204 participating nations and territories that sent only a single athlete, and was one of 117 that won no medals at the Games. The sole athlete to represent the nation was Itte Detenamo, who participated in the weightlifting, and was the flag bearer in both the opening and closing ceremonies. This was the same number of athletes as at the 1996 Olympics, when Marcus Stephen represented the country in the same sport, but was a decrease from the nation's last appearance at the Games when three athletes were sent to Athens. Nauru earned a berth for the weightlifting event in the Oceania and South Pacific Olympic Weightlifting Championships in 2008 and a chance to send participants in swimming and athletics events, but chose to send only a weightlifter. Itte Detenamo competed in the Group B of heavyweight class, fifteenth and last event of the weightlifting. He did not earn a medal, but finished with a personal best.
Matthias Steiner is a retired Austrian-German weightlifter, and Olympic gold medalist.
Liao Hui is a former Chinese weightlifter, Olympic champion and three-time world champion.
Eko Yuli Irawan is an Indonesian weightlifter, Olympian, and World Champion competing in the 62 kg category until 2018 and 61 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Andrei Mikalajevič Aramnaǔ is a Belarusian weightlifter, Olympic and World Champion.
Lydia Valentín Pérez is a Spanish retired weightlifter, Olympic Champion, 2 time World Champion and 4 time European Champion competing in the 75 kg category until 2018 and 81 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. Lydia has won three Olympic Medals, two World Weightlifting Championships, as well as four European Weightlifting Championships.
Navab Nassirshalal is an Iranian retired weightlifter who won a gold medal in the men's 105 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He began weightlifting at the age of 15 and has also won a bronze medal in the 94 kg class snatch at the 2007 Asian Weightlifting Championships, silver in the 94 kg clean and jerk and bronze overall at the 2009 edition, and gold in the 105 kg category in 2012.
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.
Donka Mincheva is a Bulgarian former weightlifter, competing in the 48 kg category and representing Bulgaria at international competitions. She participated at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 48 kg event. She competed at world championships, most recently at the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships.
Pawel Najdek is a Polish male weightlifter, competing in the +105 kg category and representing Poland at international competitions. He participated at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the +105 kg event and also at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the +105 kg event. He competed at world championships, most recently at the 2005 World Weightlifting Championships.
Russel "Russ" Prior was a Canadian weightlifter, who represented Canada at international competitions.
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