The practice of lifting heavy stones to determine one’s strength commenced in ancient times. This practice has continued down through the ages and in many strongman contests today heavy stones are lifted, or attempted to be lifted. Modern weightlifting started in Germany in the mid-1800s and quickly spread through the rest of Continental Europe and beyond. The International Weightlifting Federation was founded in 1905.

Weightlifting featured in the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. The two events in 1896 were the one-handed lift and the two-handed lift and they were open to all competitors regardless of their weight. The sport appeared again at St Louis 1904 (and in the Intercalated Olympics in Athens in 1906) and then at Antwerp 1920 after which it commenced an unbroken run on the Olympic program. Women’s weightlifting was added to the Olympic program in Sydney in 2000. 

There is one gold medal awarded for every weight division at the Olympic Games. An athlete’s performance is the total weight from two types of lifts - the snatch and the clean and jerk. In the snatch, athlete’s lift the bar to arm’s length above their head in one movement. In the clean and jerk, they lift the bar to their shoulders, stand up straight, then jerk the bar to arm’s length above their head. Lifters are allowed three attempts at each lift.

Three referees judge each lift, and express their verdict by way of lights: white for a good lift; red for an illegal lift. The majority rules in the case of a disagreement.

Should the total of two or more lifters be the same, the result is decided by body weight (i.e the lighter lifter will be declared the winner).

Australia sent its first weightlifters to London in 1948. Four years later in Helsink, Vern Barberis won a bronze medal in the lightweight category. It took another 32 years before the next weightlifting medal was won by an Australian. In fact two were won, in Los Angeles in 1984. Dean Lukin won the gold medal as a super heavyweight and Robert Kabbas came second as a light heavyweight. The USSR-led boycott by most of the Eastern Bloc countries removed many of the leading contenders from the weightlifting competition in Los Angeles, particularly in the heavier divisions. Before the boycott was announced Lukin, a wealthy tuna fisherman from Port Lincoln in South Australia, was considered a chance for a medal but once the boycott came into effect he was elevated to favourite for the gold. In the event, Lukin became Olympic champion but only after a thrilling contest with Mario Martinez from the United States. Australia’s fourth weightlifting medal came with Stefan Botev in the super heavyweight category in Atlanta in 1996.

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