Lightweight (≤67½ kilograms), Men

Waldemar Baszanowski of Poland was the defending gold medalist and considered by many as the greatest lifter of the 1960s. He repeated as Olympic champion fairly comfortably, taking a 7.5 kg lead after the snatch and winning by 15 kg over Iran’s Parviz Jalayer, who had been third at the 1966 World Championships, although Baszanowski did not compete that year. Bronze went to Baszanowski’s teammate, Marian Zieliński, who had also been the bronze medalist at Tokyo in 1964, and had won a bronze medal as a featherweight in 1956. Baszanowski returned to the Olympics in 1972, but no longer the dominant lifter he had once been, placed fourth. Baszanowski was voted the third greatest weightlifter of all-time in several polls at the end of the 20th century, trailing Turkey’s Naim Suleymanoğlu and Hungary’s Imre Földi.