Flyweight (≤52 kilograms), Men

The defending champion was Poland’s Zygmunt Smalcerz and he had won the 1975 World Championships, but Smalcerz failed to make a lift in the snatch and was eliminated. He was expected to be challenged by Iranian Mohammad Nassiri, who was World Champion in 1973-74, and Soviet Aleksandr Voronin, runner-up to Smalcerz at the 1975 Worlds, and the world record holder. The leader after the snatch, however, was Hungarian György Kőszegi. Voronin, the shortest lifter in the event at 144 cm (4-8½), had the best clean & jerk to equal his world record total with 242.5 kg and take the gold medal. Kőszegi took the silver while Nassiri settled for bronze. Nassiri had won a gold medal in 1968 and silver in 1972, both times as a bantamweight.