What are the different weight categories in weightlifting at the Olympics?

India has won only two medals in the sport - a silver and a bronze at the quadrennial event.

Weightlifting first featured in the Olympics in 1896 has been contested in every Olympics since 1920. The women’s division was first included in the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney.

The athletes are divided on the basis of their weight into different weight classes. The Paris Olympics will have five different weight categories for both the Men and Women's divisions. Each weight class will compete in two events, Snatch, and clean and jerk. In Snatch, the athlete lifts the weight over their head in one motion while in clean and jerk the athlete first lifts the weight to their chest and then over their head.

The Soviet Union is the most successful nation in the world when it comes to medals won for Weightlifting in the Olympics, closely followed by China. India has won two medals for weightlifting in the Olympics, one silver and one bronze. India’s first medal in the Olympics for weightlifting came in Sydney in 2000.

Men's weightlifting weight classes

The men’s weight categories for Paris Olympics 2024 have

+6 been divided into five classes. This is two less than the seven weight categories in Tokyo 2020. Only the 61kg and the 73kg category have been retained from the previous edition. The lowest weight category is 61kg while the highest is the +102kg category.  The five weight categories are:

• 61kg
• 73kg
• 89kg
• 102kg
• +102kg

Pyrros Dimas of Greece is the most successful weightlifter in Olympic history, winning three gold medals and a bronze medal. No Indian man has won a medal in the Olympics for weightlifting.

Women's weightlifting weight classes

The women’s weight categories to have been divided into five classes, two less than the seven categories in Tokyo 2020. Only the 49kg category and the 59kg category remain from the last Olympics. The lowest weight category is 49kg while the highest is the +81kg category. The five different weight categories are:

• 49kg
• 59kg
• 71kg
• 81kg
• +81kg

The only two medals that India won in the Olympics for weightlifting came in the women’s division. The first Indian to win a medal for weightlifting is Karnam Malleswari. She won a bronze in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Malleswari was also the first Indian woman to win a medal in the Olympics. In Tokyo 2020 Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal in the women’s 49 kg category.

Mirabai Chanu also won a Gold medal in the Commonwealth Games and holds the world record in Clean and Jerk for Women’s 49kg. The 28-year-old will be one of India’s favourites to win a medal for weightlifting in Paris 2024. With her weight category retained for the next edition, Chanu would like to turn her silver into gold in Paris.