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.
At the 1896 Summer Olympics, two weightlifting events were contested. The top two places were won by the same two men in each event, though their order was reversed for the two events. The bronze medals were split by the two Greek weightlifters. A total of seven men from five nations competed.
At the 1900 Summer Olympics one gymnastics event for men was contested. The competition was held on Sunday, 29 July 1900, and on Monday, 30 July 1900. There were 135 competitors from 8 nations. The top 18 places were taken by French gymnasts, of which there were more than 100. The event was won by Gustave Sandras, with Noël Bas finishing second and Lucien Démanet third. The highest-placing foreign gymnast was Jules Ducret of Switzerland, in a tie for 19th place.
Sotirios Versis was a Greek athlete and weightlifter. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens and the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris.
Stephanos Christopoulos was a Greek wrestler. He was a member of Gymnastiki Etaireia Patron, that merged in 1923 with Panachaikos Gymnastikos syllogos to become Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi.
Weightlifting has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the 1920 Summer Olympics, in Antwerp, Belgium, as well as twice before then. It debuted at the 1896 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece, and was also an event at the 1904 Games.
Sierra Leone sent a delegation to compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia from 15 September to 1 October 2000. This was the African nation's sixth time appearing at a Summer Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of three competitors, two track and field athletes; Alpha B. Kamara and Ekundayo Williams; and weightlifter Joseph Bellon. Neither of the track athletes advanced beyond the first round of their events, while Bellon finished 16th in the men's under 77 kg event.
The men's one hand lift, an event similar to the modern snatch, was one of two weightlifting events in the weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme.
The men's two hand lift was one of two weightlifting events held as part of the Weightlifting at the 1896 Summer Olympics program. The two-handed lift was the first weightlifting event on 7 April. Six athletes took part. Viggo Jensen of Denmark and Launceston Elliot of the United Kingdom both lifted 111.5 kilograms, and the tie was broken by a determination by Prince George that Jensen had performed the lift with better form than had Elliot. A protest by the British delegation resulted in each athlete being given further attempts to improve their scores. Neither did, and the results stood as originally declared with Jensen taking the gold medal. Jensen had, however, suffered from the extra lifts in that he experienced a slight injury in trying to lift more than he was able.
The men's heavyweight or unlimited event was part of the weightlifting programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics. The weight class was the heaviest contested, and allowed weightlifters over 82.5 kilograms. The competition was held on Sunday, 29 July 1928.
The men's +105 kg competition of the weightlifting events at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, was held on October 27 at the Weightlifting Forum. The defending champion was Cristián Escalante from Chile. Escalante was scheduled to compete, however withdrew after testing positive for drugs.
The Men's Super heavyweight Weightlifting Event (+110 kg) is the heaviest men's event at the weightlifting competition. It was open to any competitors who had at least 110.0 kilograms of body mass. The maximum weight was unlimited. The competition took place on 4 August in the Pavelló de l'Espanya Industrial.
Dimitrios Vergos was a Greek champion in wrestling, weightlifting and shot put.
Shi Zhiyong is a Chinese weightlifter, two time Olympic Champion, three time World Champion and four time Asian Champion competing in the 69 kg category until 2018 and 73 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
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.
Alexandre Maspoli was a French sculptor and weightlifter. He came joint third in the two-hand lift event at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, and was amateur weightlifting champion 19 years in a row. After the First World War, Maspoli designed war memorials, as well as sculptures to commemorate Félix Desvernay, Frantz Reichel, and Julien Barbero.
Muhammed Furkan Özbek is a Turkish weightlifter. He won the gold medal in his event at the European Weightlifting Championships in 2021 and 2022.
The Men's +109 kg weightlifting competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place on 4 August at the Tokyo International Forum.
Rahmat Erwin Abdullah is an Indonesian weightlifter. He is a two-time gold medalist in the men's 73 kg event at the World Weightlifting Championships. He won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is a weightlifter competing in the 73 kg class since 2018 World Weightlifting Championships in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. He made his international debut at the 2017 Youth World Weightlifting Championships held in Bangkok, Thailand in the 69 kg class.
Keydomar Giovanni Vallenilla Sánchez is a Venezuelan weightlifter. In 2021, he won the silver medal in the men's 96 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He won the gold medal in the men's 89 kg event at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships held in Bogotá, Colombia.
