Weightlifting at the 2000 Summer Olympics

The big news in Olympics weightlifting was that women were finally allowed to compete, with seven different classes for women. The men saw their program decreased from 10 to 8 events to make room for the women’s competition. There were restrictions on entries in the women’s events with nations permitted to enter women in no more than four of the seven classes, to prevent certain nations from dominating the competitions. World Championships for women were first held in 1987, the first event at Daytona Beach, Florida. In 1991 the men’s and women’s Worlds were made into a combined event.

The 2000 weightlifting events were contested at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, which was built in 1988. In addition to weightlifting, boxing, fencing, judo, and wrestling were also held there. The venue closed in December 2013, to allow it to be rebuilt as the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct at Darling Harbour.

Among the women, China led the medal lists with four gold medals and seven medals in all, as no other country won more than one class. Greece was the leading nation among the men with two gold medals and four medals, as Iran was the only other nation to win two events. Twenty-three nations won weightlifting medals in Sydney, by far the most ever through 2012, breaking the previous record of 14 set in 1996.