Featherweight (≤62 kilograms), Men

The 2003 World Champion was Turkey’s Halil Mutlu, twice an Olympic Champion in 1996/2000, but he returned to the bantamweight class for the 2004 Olympics, winning that gold medal. This left the favorite’s roles to China’s Le Maosheng and Shi Zhiyong, second and third at the 2003 Worlds behind Mutlu, respectively. Shi put the competition away early, lifting 152.5 kg in the snatch for a 12.5 kg lead over Le. Both lifted 172.5 kg in the clean & jerk, giving Shi the gold medal and Le the silver. The bronze seemed to go to Greece’s Leonidas Sabanis, the 2000 silver medalist, but he was disqualified after testing positive for testosterone. The bronze medal reverted to Israel José Rubio, the first Olympic weightlifting medal ever won by a Venezuelan.