Weightlifting

Number of medal events
15 – eight men’s and seven women’s weight categories.

Number of competitors
260: 156 men and 104 women
Each country is limited to 10 athletes (six men and four women) across all events, with a maximum of two athletes in any event.

Field of play
Athletes compete on a platform, which is 4m x 4m and 10cm high.

History of Weightlifting at the Olympic Games
Men’s Weightlifting featured at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with women’s Weightlifting introduced at Sydney 2000.

The heaviest individual weight lifted in Olympic competition was achieved by Hossein Rezazadeh of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the Athens 2004 Games, Rezazadeh clean-and-jerked 263.5kg – a weight roughly equivalent to five flyweight boxers.

Find out more about Weightlifting at the Olympic Games on the International Olympic Committee website.

The basics
Competitors in Weightlifting are divided into 15 weight categories, eight for men and seven for women. The strongest competitors may lift more than three times their body weight.

Each event features two types of lift. In the Snatch, the bar is lifted from the floor to above the head in one movement. By contrast, the Clean and Jerk is a two-stage action – the bar is first brought up to the shoulders before being jerked over the head.