History of Olympic Weightlifting
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By definition, Olympic weightlifting is not a team sport. The essense of the sport is a competition between the strong individuals that lift weights on the platform.
With all these said, the team aspect of Olympic weightlifting is often underestimated. In many ways, it is also a sport of strong individuals representing their teams and nations on the platform. Besides strictly statistical breakdown of the results, national representation indicates various lifting and training philosophies and styles used by Olympic weightlifters thoughout the decades of its development.
This section of the Lift Up presents a historical overview of Olympic weightlifting as a competition between various national teams and dynasties of the 20th century. The overall standings by nations are presented below. You may also use the search tools to generate listings by decades and specific nation.
The summary tables below display the overall data for:
Team | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SOVIET UNION | 170 | 99 | 35 | 304 | |
2 | BULGARIA | 74 | 62 | 39 | 175 | |
3 | UNITED STATES | 51 | 51 | 25 | 127 | |
4 | POLAND | 22 | 37 | 58 | 117 | |
5 | HUNGARY | 9 | 31 | 35 | 75 | |
6 | CHINA | 14 | 22 | 24 | 60 | |
7 | EAST GERMANY | 5 | 20 | 30 | 55 | |
8 | GERMANY | 13 | 19 | 15 | 47 | |
9 | IRAN | 12 | 7 | 26 | 45 | |
10 | JAPAN | 11 | 7 | 21 | 39 | |
11 | EGYPT | 12 | 12 | 11 | 35 | |
12 | GREECE | 13 | 13 | 5 | 31 | |
13 | FRANCE | 10 | 5 | 12 | 27 | |
14 | AUSTRIA | 7 | 11 | 9 | 27 | |
15 | CZECHOSLOVAKIA | 4 | 5 | 18 | 27 | |
16 | TURKEY | 14 | 8 | 3 | 25 | |
17 | RUSSIA | 11 | 6 | 7 | 24 | |
18 | ITALY | 5 | 8 | 10 | 23 | |
19 | ROMANIA | 4 | 11 | 8 | 23 | |
20 | CUBA | 9 | 3 | 9 | 21 | |
21 | ESTONIA | 4 | 6 | 9 | 19 | |
22 | SOUTH KOREA | 2 | 4 | 11 | 17 | |
23 | GREAT BRITAIN | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 | |
24 | WEST GERMANY | 3 | 7 | 5 | 15 | |
25 | NORTH KOREA | 1 | 4 | 9 | 14 | |
26 | UKRAINE | 6 | 1 | 6 | 13 | |
27 | FINLAND | 2 | 1 | 9 | 12 | |
28 | SWEDEN | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | |
29 | UNIFIED TEAM (CIS) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 10 | |
30 | BELGIUM | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 | |
31 | AUSTRALIA | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | |
32 | SWITZERLAND | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
33 | ARMENIA | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
34 | CANADA | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
35 | LATVIA | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
36 | NORWAY | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
37 | DENMARK | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
38 | ARGENTINA | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
39 | KAZAKHSTAN | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
40 | QATAR | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
41 | BELARUS | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
42 | TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
43 | NETHERLANDS | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
44 | TAIWAN | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
45 | GEORGIA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
46 | IRAQ | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
47 | MYANMAR | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
48 | CROATIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
49 | TURKMENISTAN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
50 | SLOVAKIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
51 | LUXEMBOURG | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
52 | LEBANON | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
53 | GUYANA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
54 | SINGAPORE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
55 | MOLDOVA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
56 | AZERBAIJAN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
57 | VENEZUELA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
TEAM | Records | Total | Press | Snatch | C & J | Total2 | Total3 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SOVIET UNION | 1349 | 344 | 321 | 333 | 350 | 128 | 216 | |
2 | BULGARIA | 279 | 95 | 11 | 92 | 81 | 92 | 3 | |
3 | GERMANY | 244 | 85 | 69 | 50 | 40 | 3 | 82 | |
4 | UNITED STATES | 170 | 37 | 46 | 38 | 49 | 0 | 37 | |
5 | AUSTRIA | 86 | 19 | 31 | 16 | 20 | 0 | 19 | |
6 | JAPAN | 65 | 19 | 1 | 38 | 7 | 2 | 17 | |
7 | CHINA | 61 | 5 | 6 | 27 | 23 | 5 | 0 | |
8 | EGYPT | 57 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 20 | 0 | 14 | |
9 | POLAND | 54 | 14 | 4 | 18 | 18 | 2 | 12 | |
10 | FRANCE | 52 | 6 | 4 | 25 | 17 | 0 | 6 | |
11 | HUNGARY | 46 | 15 | 24 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 15 | |
12 | TURKEY | 45 | 14 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 0 | |
13 | IRAN | 39 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 4 | 6 | |
14 | FINLAND | 34 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |
15 | CUBA | 25 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 0 | |
16 | RUSSIA | 23 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 0 | |
17 | GREECE | 22 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 0 | |
18 | EAST GERMANY | 21 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 0 | |
19 | SWEDEN | 17 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
20 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | ||
21 | SOUTH KOREA | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
22 | ITALY | 10 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
23 | CZECHOSLOVAKIA | 10 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | |
24 | NORTH KOREA | 10 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
25 | ESTONIA | 10 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
26 | UKRAINE | 9 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
27 | CANADA | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
28 | BELARUS | 8 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
29 | BELGIUM | 7 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
30 | GREAT BRITAIN | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
31 | SINGAPORE | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
32 | SWITZERLAND | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
33 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
34 | THAILAND | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
35 | ARMENIA | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
36 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
37 | LEBANON | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
38 | PUERTO RICO | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
39 | GEORGIA | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
40 | WEST GERMANY | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
41 | DENMARK | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
42 | INDONESIA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
43 | PHILIPPINES | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
44 | NETHERLANDS ANTILLES | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
45 | ROMANIA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
46 | BURMA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
47 | ARGENTINA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
48 | LUXEMBOURG | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
49 | NORWAY | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
50 | TURKMENISTAN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
51 | NETHERLANDS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
52 | CROATIA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
53 | KAZAKHSTAN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
54 | COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |