Bantamweight (≤56 kilograms), Men

Due to the Eastern Block boycott, he Olympic field only featured four competitors from the 1983 World Championships. Defending World Champion Oksen Mirzoyan was competing at the Friendship Games in Varna, where he would be defeated by Bulgarian Naim Suleimanov, who was to become a 3-time world champion as Naim Süleymanoğlu for Turkey. Of the four World Championship entrants, clear favorite was Wu Shude, who had already won a bronze at the 1982 World Championships. The other three competitors were Japanese lifters Masahiro Kotaka, Takashi Ichiba and Romanian Gheorghe Maftei.

Maftei fell behind in the snatch, and did not produce a valid lift in the clean & jerk. Meanwhile, Wu’s compatriot Lai Runming equalled the Olympic Record in the snatch, leading the pack by 5 kg. Wu made up for it in the second part with 147.5 kg, while Lai and the Japanese all lifted 140 kg. This gave the title to Wu, with Lai second and Kotaka third. Back in ninth place came Algeria’s Ahmed Tarbi, but he would later be removed from the rankings when it became clear he had used nandrolon.