World Weightlifting Championships Explained

World Weightlifting Championships
Status:	Active
Genre:	Sports event
Date:	November
Frequency:	Annual, apart from Summer Olympic years
Location:	Various
Organised:	IWF

The World Weightlifting Championships is an international weightlifting competition, currently held annually (except for years of the Summer Olympic Games) by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The predecessor organization of the IWF was founded in 1905,^[1] but World Championship events began before its foundation. The first recognized World Championship event was held in 1891, and was won by Edward Lawrence Levy of England.^{[2] [3]}

Athletes today compete in a total of 20 weight categories (10 for men and 10 for women):

• Men categories: 55 kg, 61 kg, 67 kg, 73 kg, 81 kg, 89 kg, 96 kg, 102 kg, 109 kg and +109 kg.
• Women categories: 45 kg, 49 kg, 55 kg, 59 kg, 64 kg, 71 kg, 76 kg, 81 kg, 87 kg and +87 kg.

Competitions

Men

No.	Year	Dates	City and host country	Athletes	Countries
I	1891	28 March	London, United Kingdom	7	6
II	1898	31 July – 1 August	Vienna, Austria	11	3
III	1899	4–5 April	Milan, Italy	5	3
IV	1903	1–3 October	Paris, France	18	5
V	1904	18 April	Vienna, Austria	13	4
VI	1905	8–10 April	Berlin, Germany	41	4
VII	1905	11–13 June	Duisburg, Germany	7	2
VIII	1905	16 & 30 December	Paris, France	16	1
IX	1906	18 March	Lille, France	33	4
X	1907	19 May	Frankfurt, Germany	23	3
XI	1908	8–9 December	Vienna, Austria	23	2
XII	1909	3 October & 2 December	Vienna, Austria	23	3
XIII	1910	4–6 June	Düsseldorf, Germany	57	5
XIV	1910	9–10 October	Vienna, Austria	15	2
XV	1911	29–30 April	Stuttgart, Germany	36	3
XVI	1911	13–14 May	Berlin, Germany	27	2
XVII	1911	26 June	Dresden, Germany	21	3
XVIII	1911	29 June – 2 July	Vienna, Austria	32	3
XIX	1913	28–29 July	Breslau, Germany	40	4
XX	1920	4–8 September	Vienna, Austria	74	4
XXI	1922	29–30 April	Tallinn, Estonia	33	4
XXII	1923	8–9 September	Vienna, Austria	76	7
XXIII	1937	10–12 September	Paris, France	50	10
XXIV	1938	21–23 October	Vienna, Germany	38	11
XXV	1946	18–19 October	Paris, France	79	13
XXVI	1947	26–27 September	Philadelphia, United States	39	12
XXVII	1949	4–6 September	Scheveningen, Netherlands	38	13
XXVIII	1950	13–15 October	Paris, France	56	17
XXIX	1951	26–28 October	Milan, Italy	62	14
XXX	1953	26–30 August	Stockholm, Sweden	70	19
XXXI	1954	7–10 October	Vienna, Austria	100	23
XXXII	1955	12–16 October	Munich, West Germany	108	25
XXXIII	1957	8–12 November	Tehran, Iran	76	21
XXXIV	1958	16–21 September	Stockholm, Sweden	96	27
XXXV	1959	29 September – 4 October	Warsaw, Poland	85	19
XXXVI	1961	20–25 September	Vienna, Austria	120	33
XXXVII	1962	16–22 September	Budapest, Hungary	113	27
XXXVIII	1963	16–22 September	Stockholm, Sweden	134	32
XXXIX	1964	11–18 October	Tokyo, Japan	149	42
XL	1965	27 October – 3 November	Tehran, Iran	85	24
XLI	1966	15–21 October	East Berlin, East Germany	117	28
XLII	1968	13–19 October	Mexico City, Mexico	160	55
XLIII	1969	20–28 September	Warsaw, Poland	166	37
XLIV	1970	12–20 September	Columbus, United States	129	28
XLV	1971	18–26 September	Lima, Peru	144	30
XLVI	1972	27 August – 6 September	Munich, West Germany	188	54
XLVII	1973	15–23 September	Havana, Cuba	189	39
XLVIII	1974	21–29 September	Manila, Philippines	143	32
XLIX	1975	15–23 September	Moscow, Soviet Union	169	33
L	1976	18–27 July	Montreal, Canada	173	46
LI	1977	17–25 September	Stuttgart, West Germany	186	44
LII	1978	4–8 October	Gettysburg, United States	185	35
LIII	1979	3–11 November	Thessaloniki, Greece	189	39
LIV	1980	20–30 July	Moscow, Soviet Union	173	40
LV	1981	13–20 September	Lille, France	194	35
LVI	1982	18–26 September	Ljubljana, Yugoslavia	205	38
LVII	1983	22–31 October	Moscow, Soviet Union	187	32
LVIII	1984	29 July – 8 August	Los Angeles, United States	187	48
LIX	1985	23 August – 1 September	Södertälje, Sweden	195	38
LX	1986	8–15 November	Sofia, Bulgaria	193	41
LXI	1987	6–13 September	Ostrava, Czechoslovakia	168	29
LXII	1989	16–23 September	Piraeus, Greece	220	37
LXIII	1990	10–18 November	Budapest, Hungary	182	38

• The weightlifting tournaments held during Summer Olympics in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 are counted as World Weightlifting Championships of the corresponding year.

Women

No.	Year	Dates	City and host country	Athletes	Countries
I	1987	30 October – 1 November	Daytona Beach, United States	100	22
II	1988	2–4 December	Jakarta, Indonesia	103	23
III	1989	24–26 November	Manchester, United Kingdom	133	25
IV	1990	26 May – 3 June	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	109	25

Combined

No.	Year	Dates	City and host country	Men	Women
M	W	Athletes	Countries	Athletes	Countries
LXIV	V	1991	27 September – 6 October	Donaueschingen, Germany	200	40	108	24
—	VI	1992	16–24 May	Varna, Bulgaria	—	—	110	25
LXV	VII	1993	11–21 November	Melbourne, Australia	195	57	94	25
LXVI	VIII	1994	17–27 November	Istanbul, Turkey	242	52	105	30
LXVII	IX	1995	16–26 November	Guangzhou, China	345	63	93	26
—	X	1996	3–11 May	Warsaw, Poland	—	—	102	24
LXVIII	XI	1997	6–14 December	Chiang Mai, Thailand	189	51	143	39
LXIX	XII	1998	10–15 November	Lahti, Finland	210	53	122	35
LXX	XIII	1999	21–28 November	Piraeus, Greece	395	79	231	51
LXXI	XIV	2001	4–11 November	Antalya, Turkey	153	47	114	34
LXXII	XV	2002	18–26 November	Warsaw, Poland	170	47	115	37
LXXIII	XVI	2003	14–22 November	Vancouver, Canada	297	59	208	47
LXXIV	XVII	2005	9–17 November	Doha, Qatar	169	58	112	42
LXXV	XVIII	2006	30 September – 7 October	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	298	58	186	39
LXXVI	XIX	2007	17–26 September	Chiang Mai, Thailand	355	70	225	53
LXXVII	XX	2009	20–29 November	Goyang, South Korea	196	57	133	38
LXXVIII	XXI	2010	17–26 September	Antalya, Turkey	312	63	203	50
LXXIX	XXII	2011	5–13 November	Paris, France	307	75	212	61
LXXX	XXIII	2013	20–27 October	Wrocław, Poland	168	49	124	37
LXXXI	XXIV	2014	8–16 November	Almaty, Kazakhstan	307	62	219	51
LXXXII	XXV	2015	20–28 November	Houston, United States	324	76	261	72
LXXXIII	XXVI	2017	28 November – 5 December	Anaheim, United States	176	54	139	44
LXXXIV	XXVII	2018	1–10 November	Ashgabat, Turkmenistan	272	68	310	73
LXXXV	XXVIII	2019	18–27 September	Pattaya, Thailand	313	84	275	79
LXXXVI	XXIX	2021	7–17 December	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	235	64	179	54
LXXXVII	XXX	2022	5–16 December	Bogotá, Colombia	267	79	270	76
LXXXVIII	XXXI	2023	4–17 September	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	365	105	354	94
LXXXIX	XXXII	2024	4–14 December	Manama, Bahrain
XC	XXXIII	2025		Førde, Norway
XCI	XXXIV	2026		Ningbo, China
XCII	XXXV	2027		Yerevan, Armenia
XCIII	XXXVI	2028		Caracas, Venezuela

All-time medal table

Total

All-time big (total) medal count below updated after the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships.

Big and small medals

All-time big (total) and small (snatch, clean & jerk, and press) medal count below updated after the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships.

• Names in italic are national entities that no longer exist.

Multiple medalists

The table shows those who have won at least 5 gold medals in total result. Boldface denotes active weightlifters and highest medal count among all weightlifters (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Rank	Weightlifter	Country	Gender	Weights	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1			M	+110 kg	1970	1977	8	–	–	8
2			M	56 kg / 60 kg / 64 kg	1983	1995	7	1	–	8
			M	75 kg / 82.5 kg / 90 kg	1977	1985	7	1	–	8
4	Lasha Talakhadze		M	+105 kg / +109 kg	2015	2023	7	–	–	7
5			M	Open / +80 kg	1904	1913	6	2	–	8
6			M	75 kg / 82.5 kg	1953	1962	6	1	1	8
7			M	82.5 kg / +82.5 kg / +90 kg	1938	1953	6	1	–	7
8			M	56 kg / 60 kg	1961	1968	6	–	1	7
			M	82.5 kg / 90 kg / 100 kg	1970	1978	6	–	1	7
10			M	67.5 kg / 75 kg	1961	1971	5	5	–	10
11			M	82.5 kg / 90 kg	1950	1961	5	2	1	8
12			M	67.5 kg / 75 kg	1947	1955	5	2	–	7
			M	54 kg / 56 kg / 62 kg	1993	2003	5	2	–	7
			M	60 kg / 67.5 kg / 75 kg	1977	1983	5	2	–	7
15			M	56 kg / 52 kg	1966	1976	5	1	3	9
16	Kuo Hsing-chun		F	58 kg / 59 kg	2013	2022	5	1	1	7
17	Chen Lijun		M	62 kg / 67 kg	2013	2023	5	1	–	6
			M	75 kg	1964	1970	5	1	–	6
	Lü Xiaojun		M	77 kg / 81 kg	2009	2019	5	1	–	6
20			M	90 kg / 91 kg / 99 kg	1985	1995	5	–	2	7
			M	67.5 kg / 75 kg / 82.5 kg	1946	1954	5	–	2	7
22			M	56 kg	1955	1962	5	–	1	6
23			F	58 kg / 63 kg / 64 kg	2010	2019	5	–	–	5
	Om Yun-chol		M	56 kg / 55 kg	2013	2019	5	–	–	5

See also

• Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics
• List of World Championships medalists in weightlifting (men)
• List of World Championships medalists in weightlifting (women)
• Youth World Weightlifting Championships
• Junior World Weightlifting Championships

External links

• International Weightlifting Federation (IWF)
• Weightlifting World Championships Seniors Statistics
• Database IWRP

See main article: world championships.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Weightlifting History . 2023-01-25 . International Weightlifting Federation . en-US.
2. Web site: 2013-03-29 . 122 years since the first World Championships . 2023-01-25 . International Weightlifting Federation . en-US.
3. Book: Siegman, Joseph M. . The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame . 1992 . SP Books . 978-1-56171-028-7 . 181 .