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.
Ilya Aleksandrovich Ilyin is a retired Kazakhstani weightlifter who won four world championships. 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.
María Alexandra Escobar Guerrero is an Ecuadorian weightlifter.
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.
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.
Loredana Elena Toma is a Romanian weightlifter, two time World Champion and four time European Champion competing in the 58 kg and 63 kg categories until 2018 and 64 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. She now competes at the 71kg category.
Lasha Talakhadze is a Georgian weightlifter, holding the all-time world records regardless of weight category in the snatch, the clean and jerk, and the total since 2021.
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.
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.
Maude G. Charron is a Canadian weightlifter, who competes in the 63/64 kg category and represents Canada at international competitions. She is an Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion in the women's 64 kg division. Charron also owns the clean & jerk Commonwealth Games record, the snatch and total Canadian weightlifting records, all the Panamerican records in her weight class.
Akbar Djuraev is an Uzbekistani weightlifter, Olympic Champion and Junior World Champion. He won the gold medal in the men's 109 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He also won the gold medal in the men's 109 kg event at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Rosina Randafiarison is a weightlifter from Madagascar. She is the silver medalist of 2023 World Championships and the first ever world medalist in any Olympic sport from Madagascar.
Karlos May Nasar is a Bulgarian weightlifter who is an Olympic, world and two-time European champion and one of the youngest weightlifting world record holders ever.
Mihaela Valentina Cambei is a Romanian weightlifter. She won the silver medal in the women's 49 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. In 2023, she won the gold medal in the women's 49 kg event at the European Weightlifting Championships held in Yerevan, Armenia. She also won the gold medal in her event at the 2024 European Weightlifting Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Theerapong Silachai is a Thai weightlifter competing in the men's 61 kg category. He is a silver medalist in the Weightlifting Men's 61 kg category at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. He is regarded as the first Thai male weightlifter Olympic silver medalist. He won a gold medal at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships.
Park Hye-jeong is a female competitive weightlifter from South Korea.
Mary Flor Diaz is a Filipino weightlifter competing in the women's 45 kg category.
