Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics
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.
Events
Men's events
In the early Games, all lifters competed in the same events, regardless of their individual body weights.1896
1904
When the sport returned to the Olympic Games in 1920, the competition was structured as a set of weight classes. The number of classes and weight limits for each class have changed several times, as shown in the following table.
| Weight class | 20 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 48 | 52 | 56 | 60 | 64 | 68 | 72 | 76 | 80 | 84 | 88 | 92 | 96 | 00 | 04 | 08 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | Years |
| Super heavyweight | +110 | +110 | +110 | +110 | +110 | +110 | +108 | [Weightlifting at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's +105 kg|+105 kg|+105] | +105 | +105 | +105 | +105 | [Weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's +109 kg|+109 kg|+109] | [Weightlifting at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's +102 kg|+102 kg|+102] | 14 | |||||||||||
| Heavyweight | +82.5 | +82.5 | +82.5 | +82.5 | +82.5 | +82.5 | +90 | +90 | +90 | +90 | +90 | 110 | 110 | 110 | 110 | 110 | 110 | 108 | 105 | 105 | 105 | 105 | 105 | 109 | 102 | 25 |
| First-heavyweight | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | [Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 99 kg|99 kg|99] | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| [Weightlifting at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 90 kg|90 kg|90] | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 91 | [Weightlifting at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 94 kg|94 kg|94] | 94 | 94 | 94 | 94 | 96 | 18 | ||||||||
| Light-heavyweight | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | 82.5 | [Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 83 kg|83 kg|83] | [Weightlifting at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 85 kg|85 kg|85] | 85 | 85 | 85 | 85 | 89 | 24 | |
| Middleweight | [Weightlifting at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 75 kg|75 kg|75] | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | [Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1976 Summer Olympics|76 kg|76] | [Weightlifting at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 77 kg|77 kg|77] | 77 | 77 | 77 | 77 | [Weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 81 kg|81 kg|81] | 24 | |
| Lightweight | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 70 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 73 | 73 | 25 |
| Featherweight | [Weightlifting at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 60 kg|60 kg|60] | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | [Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 64 kg|64 kg|64] | 62 | 62 | 62 | 62 | 62 | 67 | 24 | |
| Bantamweight | [Weightlifting at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 56 kg|56 kg|56] | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | [Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 59 kg|59 kg|59] | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 56 | 61 | 61 | 20 | |||||
| Flyweight | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | [Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Weightlifting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 54 kg|54 kg|54] | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 186 |
Women's events
Women's weightlifting made its Olympic debut at the 2000 Games in Sydney, with seven weight classes.| Weight class | 00 | 04 | 08 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | Years |
| +75..+87 kg | +75 | +75 | +75 | +75 | +75 | +87 | +81 | 7 |
| 75..87 kg | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 87 | 81 | 7 |
| 69..76 kg | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 76 | 71 | 7 |
| 63..64 kg | 63 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 64 | 6 | |
| 58..59 kg | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 59 | 59 | 7 |
| 53..55 kg | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 53 | 55 | 6 | |
| 48..49 kg | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 49 | 49 | 7 |
| Total | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 47 |
Medal table
Sources:''As of the 2024 Summer Olympics and Court of Arbitration for Sport decision of March 2022 to disqualify a gold medalist in the weightlifting men's 77kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.''
Multiple medalists
The table shows those who have won at least 2 gold medals. Boldface denotes active weightlifters and highest medal count among all weightlifters per type.| Rank | Weightlifter | Country | Gender | Weights | From | To | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Pyrros Dimas | M | 82.5 kg / 83 kg / 85 kg | 1992 | 2004 | 3 | – | 1 | 4 | |
| 2 | Lasha Talakhadze | M | +105 kg / +109 kg / +102 kg | 2016 | 2024 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |
| 2 | Lü Xiaojun | M | 77 kg / 81 kg | 2012 | 2020 | 3 | - | – | 3 | |
| 2 | Akakios Kakiasvilis (Kakhi Kakhiashvili) | M | 90 kg / 99 kg / 94 kg | 1992 | 2000 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |
| 2 | Halil Mutlu | M | 54 kg / 56 kg | 1996 | 2004 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |
| 2 | Naim Süleymanoğlu | M | 60 kg / 64 kg | 1988 | 1996 | 3 | – | – | 3 | |
| 7 | Louis Hostin | M | 82.5 kg | 1928 | 1936 | 2 | 1 | – | 3 | |
| 7 | Tommy Kono | M | 67.5 kg / 75 kg / 82.5 kg | 1952 | 1960 | 2 | 1 | – | 3 | |
| 7 | Yoshinobu Miyake | M | 56 kg / 60 kg | 1960 | 1968 | 2 | 1 | – | 3 | |
| 10 | Arkady Vorobyov |  URS|1955 |