Lightweight (≤67½ kilograms), Men

Petro Korol (URS) had won the 1974-75 World Championships, with silver both years going to Poland Zbigniew Kaczmarek, the 1970-71 World Champion, who came to Montréal having already won the 1976 European Championships and the two were expected to fight it out for gold. They were tied after the snatch at 135.0 kg, along with France’s Daniel Senet. Kaczmarek then lifted 172.5 kg in the clean & jerk and the gold medal was seemingly his. However, he tested positive in doping controls for an anabolic steroid, the exact identity of which was never announced, and he was disqualified. Korol was advanced to the gold medal with Senet winning silver, and the bronze going to Kaczmarek’s teammate Kazimierz Czarnecki, who was unknown internationally. Kaczmarek continued to compete through the 1980 Olympics, where he placed sixth in this class, but in 1982 he and his family defected to West Germany.