Weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Since Rio, the weight classes in weightlifting had changed. From the 2000 Sydney Games up to 2016, there had been eight different classes for men and seven for women. Following changes in 2018, there were now ten weight divisions per gender, which had been contested at the two World Championships since then. There were seven weight categories each, however, for men and women in Tokyo. The weight divisions not contested in Tokyo were 55 kg, 89 kg, and 102 kg for men, and the women’s 45 kg, 71 kg, and 81 kg.

To also make weightlifting gender-equal at the Olympics, 14 athletes could qualify for every weight division, which meant that 98 athletes per gender were able to participate. In the end, the number of participants was almost equal with 98 men and 96 women competing, while the ratio in Rio was 152 men and 102 women.

The qualification process started after the new weight classes had been established at the 2018 World Championships and should have ended on 30 April 2020, but was extended to 31 May 2021 due to the postponement of the Olympics. The qualification events included World Championships, Continental championships, multi-sport events, junior competitions, and some other events. There were some main changes in the qualification system as quota places are no longer gained by NOCs, but by individuals and every nation was only able to send four athletes per gender; in Rio it was possible to name six men and four women as a maximum. The athletes earned points for a ranking list and they had to compete in at least one event in each of the three qualification periods between 1 November 2018-30 April 2019, 1 May 2019-31 October 2019, and 1 November 2019-31 May 2021, and compete in at least six events overall. This allowed for a better doping control. Of these ranking lists, the top eight plus the next best of every continent qualified for the Games with one place left in every category, which was reserved for the host nation or invitations. The host nation was guaranteed six places, so if Japan did not have three qualified athletes per gender, their NOC was allowed to fill up their contingent, which they did with three women. Tripartite Commission invitations were given to athletes from nations who had only seven or fewer participants in individual events in the last two Summer Olympics, and eleven weightlifters got this invitation. In addition, the IOC invited Cyrille Tchatchet II who represented the Refugee Olympic Team, which led to 15 participants in the men’s middle-heavyweight class.

In total 76 NOCs participated in Tokyo with the banned nations from Rio, Bulgaria and Russia (as Russian Olympic Committee) being back, both with restrictions. Neither nation won a medal. Egypt, Malaysia, Romania, and Thailand were four nations excluded due to numerous doping offences. For the same reason, multiple other nations had restrictions, which meant that they were allowed only to send a reduced number of athletes. This system created controversy because it prevented potentially innocent athletes from competing due to the misconduct of others. Not present in Tokyo was PRK as they decided not to send a team to the Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NOC of Samoa followed a government order only to send overseas athletes to the Games, which only affected the Samoan based weightlifting team and prevented Vaipava Ioane, Don Opeloge, and Iuniarra Simanu from competing.

Dika Toua, Hiromi Miyake, and Alexandra Escobar all became the first women to take part in five Olympics, joining Imre Földi, Ingo Steinhöfel, and Ronny Weller, who were the only men to compete five times. Magdeline Moyengwa of Botswana, Amur Al-Kanjari of Oman, and Mohammed Hamada of Palestine became the first ever weightlifting competitors for their respective countries, while Yasmin Zammit Stevens of Malta, Mahassen Fattouh of Lebanon, Kuinini Manumua of Tonga, and Sarah Fischer of Austria became the first ever female weightlifters at the Games for their respective nations. Laurel Hubbard made history as the first ever openly transgender athlete to participate at the Olympics. She lived as a man until 2012, when she underwent gender reassignment surgery.

Twelve weightlifting medallists from Rio returned to Tokyo, of whom nine won a medal again. No female lifter was able to win a second gold, while Shi Zhiyong and Lasha Talakhadze repeated their Rio win, and Lu Xiaojun returned to the top again after winning gold in 2012 and silver in 2016. Winning silver in Tokyo made Eko Irawan the fifth weightlifter to win four Olympic medals, but he is the only one of them without a gold medal. Like Rio five years before, Europe only won one gold medal, with the majority of golds being won again by Asian athletes. Powerhouse China won seven gold and one silver medal with all of their athletes winning a medal, equalling the record of the Soviet Union, who also won seven gold and one silver back in 1976, but with nine athletes participating. These eight medals from Tokyo brought the China’s weightlifting medal tally to 62, equaling the overall record of the Soviet Union, who also won 62 medals between 1952-88. With 39 weightlifting gold medals, the Soviet Union is still in the lead with China now having won 38. The second place in the Tokyo medal count went to Ecuador, who had never previously won an Olympic weightlifting medal.

A total of 24 nations won weightlifting medals in Tokyo, which equalled the record of 2008. Weightlifting provided the Philippines and Qatar with their first ever Olympic golds, while Turkmenistan won the first ever Olympic medal (silver). Ecuador won its first Olympic weightlifting medal, with Neisi Dajomes winning the first ever Olympic gold medal by a woman for her country. Also, Dominican Republic and Syria won their first ever Olympic weightlifting medals.

Shi Zhiyong set a new world record in total in middleweight (up to 73 kg) with 364 kg and, on the last day of the weightlifting competition, Lasha Talakhadze set new world records in the super-heavyweight class (+109 kg) in snatch with 223 kg, in clean & jerk with 265 kg, and in total with 488 kg. Both bettered their own records.

The oldest male weightlifter to participate was Lu Xiaojun, who also became the oldest weightlifting gold medallist in Olympic history, being aged 37 years 4 days. The oldest female competitor was Laurel Hubbard, aged 43 years 174 days, to also become the oldest female weightlifting competitor ever at the Games. In contrast, Mohammed Hamada, aged 19 years 139 days, and Nancy Abouke, aged 18 years 27 days, were the youngest male and female lifters, respectively.