Weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics

There was no change in the weightlifting program for the 2008 Olympics, with eight men’s classes and seven for women, all at the same weight limits as in 2000 and 2004. The events were held at the Beijing Hangkong Hangtian Daxue Tiyuguan, or the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium, also called the Beihang University Gymnasium. It was built in 2001 on the campus of Beihang University and seated 5,400 people for the 2008 weightlifting competition.

China led the men’s and women’s medal lists, with five medals and four golds in the men’s events, and four gold medals, and four medals overall, by the women. On the men’s side Russia won four medals but no golds, while among the women, Russia and Kazakhstan both won two silvers and one bronze medal. China, with eight gold medals in all, was the only nation to win more than one event, counting both genders.

In 2015 the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. The 2008 weightlifting competition was markedly affected, causing many of the results to be changed. In all, there were 26 PED disqualifications from the 2008 weightlifting events, with 4 gold medalists and 16 medalists losing their medals.