World Weightlifting Championships

World Weightlifting Championships
World Weightlifting Championships
Status	Active
Genre	Sports event
Frequency	Annual, apart from Summer Olympic years
Inaugurated	28 March 1891
Founder	Weightlifting association of six different countries
Most recent	2025
Previous event	2024
Next event	2026
Organised by	IWF
Member	193
Website	https://iwf.sport/events/world-championships/
	2025

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.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Athletes today compete in a total of 16 weight categories (8 for men and 8 for women):

Men categories: 60 kg, 65 kg, 71 kg, 79 kg, 88 kg, 94 kg, 110 kg and +110 kg.
Women categories: 48 kg, 53 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 77 kg, 86 kg and +86 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	Year	Dates	City and host country	# 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	245	76	226	75
XC	XXXIII	2025	1–10 October	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 2025 World Weightlifting Championships.


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	202	97	50	349
2	Soviet Union	151	90	33	274
3	Bulgaria	82	82	65	229
4	United States	44	54	35	133
5	Russia	39	48	34	121
6	Austria	32	27	31	90
7	North Korea	27	30	27	84
8	Poland	25	38	57	120
9	Iran	25	18	31	74
10	Germany	24	34	27	85
11	Chinese Taipei	18	23	26	67
12	Kazakhstan	17	9	9	35
13	Turkey	16	19	18	53
14	South Korea	14	22	28	64
15	Egypt	14	15	15	44
16	Thailand	12	20	22	54
17	Hungary	11	38	42	91
18	Colombia	10	18	19	47
19	Greece	10	15	11	36
20	Japan	10	14	28	52
21	Georgia	9	5	5	19
22	Belarus	8	8	8	24
23	Ukraine	8	7	19	34
24	Cuba	8	6	11	25
25	Romania	7	14	14	35
26	France	7	11	20	38
27	Armenia	7	10	14	31
28	Uzbekistan	7	5	6	18
29	Indonesia	6	12	10	28
30	Great Britain	5	5	10	20
31	Qatar	5	4	4	13
32	East Germany	4	19	29	52
33	Switzerland	4	4	2	10
34	Finland	4	2	10	16
35	India	3	10	5	18
36	West Germany	3	5	3	11
37	Estonia	3	4	6	13
38	Czechoslovakia	3	3	15	21
39	Norway	3	3	1	7
40	Azerbaijan	3	2	4	9
41	Italy	2	6	9	17
42	Vietnam	2	5	7	14
43	Turkmenistan	2	3	0	5
44	Spain	2	2	4	8
45	Australia	1	5	6	12
46	Latvia	1	3	7	11
47	Canada	1	3	5	9
48	Bahrain	1	2	2	5
49	Sweden	1	1	7	9
50	Chile	1	1	0	2
51	Philippines	1	0	5	6
51	Venezuela	1	0	5	6
53	Slovakia	1	0	1	2
53	Tunisia	1	0	1	2
55	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
56	Nigeria	0	4	4	8
57	Belgium	0	4	3	7
58	Ecuador	0	3	9	12
59	Denmark	0	3	0	3
60	Netherlands	0	2	0	2
61	Dominican Republic	0	1	5	6
61	Moldova	0	1	5	6
63	Argentina	0	1	1	2
63	Brazil	0	1	1	2
65	Albania	0	1	0	1
	Croatia	0	1	0	1
	Guyana	0	1	0	1
	Lebanon	0	1	0	1
	Lithuania	0	1	0	1
	Madagascar	0	1	0	1
	Malaysia	0	1	0	1
	New Zealand	0	1	0	1
73	Myanmar	0	0	5	5
74	Russian Weightlifting Federation^[a]	0	0	3	3
75	Iraq	0	0	2	2
	Mexico	0	0	2	2
	Saudi Arabia	0	0	2	2
78	Macau	0	0	1	1
–	Individual Neutral Athletes^[b]	0	0	1	1
Totals (78 entries)		909	909	907	2,725

Big and small medals

All-time big (total) and small (snatch, clean & jerk, and press) medal count below updated after the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships.


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	605	286	165	1,056
2	Soviet Union	331	208	93	632
3	Bulgaria	231	225	189	645
4	Russia	119	133	91	343
5	North Korea	92	84	65	241
6	United States	65	94	85	244
7	Poland	64	99	124	287
8	Iran	57	50	59	166
9	Turkey	51	57	52	160
10	Chinese Taipei	47	73	79	199
11	Hungary	39	89	107	235
12	South Korea	38	73	88	199
13	Thailand	38	54	54	146
14	Kazakhstan	37	34	29	100
15	Germany	36	43	37	116
16	Austria	32	27	34	93
17	Georgia	31	12	11	54
18	Colombia	27	49	65	141
19	Greece	26	43	41	110
20	Cuba	26	25	36	87
21	Egypt	26	25	29	80
22	Uzbekistan	26	18	19	63
23	Romania	25	32	44	101
24	Belarus	25	26	33	84
25	Japan	24	52	75	151
26	Armenia	22	36	44	102
27	Ukraine	22	29	48	99
28	East Germany	20	61	71	152
29	Indonesia	18	26	34	78
30	West Germany	13	14	15	42
31	France	12	21	34	67
32	Qatar	12	12	11	35
33	Finland	12	11	22	45
34	Norway	12	6	5	23
35	Vietnam	9	17	18	44
36	India	8	30	16	54
37	Azerbaijan	8	7	10	25
38	Spain	6	6	19	31
39	Czechoslovakia	5	14	40	59
40	Great Britain	5	13	23	41
41	Australia	5	10	20	35
42	Turkmenistan	5	9	6	20
43	Switzerland	5	5	3	13
44	Chile	5	2	1	8
45	Italy	4	13	18	35
46	Estonia	4	5	6	15
47	Philippines	4	1	12	17
48	Russian Weightlifting Federation^[a]	4	0	7	11
49	Belgium	3	8	4	15
50	Sweden	3	4	12	19
51	Myanmar	3	2	8	13
52	Venezuela	3	1	16	20
53	Slovakia	3	1	4	8
54	Bahrain	2	9	4	15
55	Latvia	2	5	16	23
56	Moldova	2	5	11	18
57	Albania	2	3	3	8
58	Lithuania	2	2	1	5
59	Tunisia	2	1	4	7
60	Canada	1	12	10	23
61	Nigeria	1	10	15	26
62	Ecuador	1	8	27	36
63	Dominican Republic	1	6	9	16
64	Mongolia	1	4	2	7
65	Brazil	1	2	3	6
66	Saudi Arabia	1	0	4	5
67	Iraq	1	0	3	4
–	Individual Neutral Athletes^[b]	1	0	1	2
68	Croatia	0	4	0	4
69	Malaysia	0	3	1	4
70	Denmark	0	3	0	3
70	Madagascar	0	3	0	3
72	Mexico	0	2	7	9
73	Lebanon	0	2	2	4
74	Nauru	0	2	0	2
	Netherlands	0	2	0	2
	New Zealand	0	2	0	2
77	Argentina	0	1	1	2
	Kyrgyzstan	0	1	1	2
	Puerto Rico	0	1	1	2
80	Guyana	0	1	0	1
80	Micronesia	0	1	0	1
82	Macau	0	0	3	3
83	Syria	0	0	2	2
84	Algeria	0	0	1	1
	CIS	0	0	1	1
	Israel	0	0	1	1
	Pakistan	0	0	1	1
	Peru	0	0	1	1
	United Arab Republic	0	0	1	1
Totals (89 entries)		2,374	2,370	2,368	7,112

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	Vasily Alekseyev	Soviet Union	M	+110 kg	1970	1977	8	–	–	8
2	Naim (Naum) Süleymanoğlu (Suleymanov, Shalamanov)	Bulgaria Turkey	M	56 kg / 60 kg / 64 kg	1983	1995	7	1	–	8
2	Yurik Vardanyan	Soviet Union	M	75 kg / 82.5 kg / 90 kg	1977	1985	7	1	–	8
4	Lasha Talakhadze	Georgia	M	+105 kg / +109 kg	2015	2023	7	–	–	7
5	Josef Grafl	Austria	M	Open / +80 kg	1904	1913	6	2	–	8
6	Tommy Kono	United States	M	75 kg / 82.5 kg	1953	1962	6	1	1	8
7	John Davis	United States	M	82.5 kg / +82.5 kg / +90 kg	1938	1953	6	1	–	7
8	Yoshinobu Miyake	Japan	M	56 kg / 60 kg	1961	1968	6	–	1	7
8	David Rigert	Soviet Union	M	82.5 kg / 90 kg / 100 kg	1970	1978	6	–	1	7
10	Waldemar Baszanowski	Poland	M	67.5 kg / 75 kg	1961	1971	5	5	–	10
11	Arkady Vorobyov	Soviet Union	M	82.5 kg / 90 kg	1950	1961	5	2	1	8
12	Pete George	United States	M	67.5 kg / 75 kg	1947	1955	5	2	–	7
	Halil Mutlu	Turkey	M	54 kg / 56 kg / 62 kg	1993	2003	5	2	–	7
	Yanko Rusev	Bulgaria	M	60 kg / 67.5 kg / 75 kg	1977	1983	5	2	–	7
15	Mohammad Nassiri	Iran	M	56 kg / 52 kg	1966	1976	5	1	3	9
16	Kuo Hsing-chun	Chinese Taipei	F	58 kg / 59 kg	2013	2025	5	1	2	8
17	Chen Lijun	China	M	62 kg / 67 kg	2013	2023	5	1	–	6
	Viktor Kurentsov	Soviet Union	M	75 kg	1964	1970	5	1	–	6
	Lü Xiaojun	China	M	77 kg / 81 kg	2009	2019	5	1	–	6
20	Anatoly Khrapaty	Soviet Union Kazakhstan	M	90 kg / 91 kg / 99 kg	1985	1995	5	–	2	7
20	Stanley Stanczyk	United States	M	67.5 kg / 75 kg / 82.5 kg	1946	1954	5	–	2	7
22	Vladimir Stogov	Soviet Union	M	56 kg	1955	1962	5	–	1	6
23	Deng Wei	China	F	58 kg / 63 kg / 64 kg	2010	2019	5	–	–	5
23	Om Yun-chol	North Korea	M	56 kg / 55 kg	2013	2019	5	–	–	5

Notes

^ ^a ^b At the 2021 World Championships, in accordance with a ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), weightlifters from Russia were not permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem. They instead participated under the name and the modified flag of the Russian Weightlifting Federation (RWF).
^ ^a ^b At the 2023 World Championships, in accordance with sanctions imposed following by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, weightlifters from Belarus were not permitted to use the name, flag, or anthem of Belarus. They instead participated as "Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)", their medals were not included in the official medal table.

References

^ ^a ^b "Weightlifting History". International Weightlifting Federation. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
^ "122 years since the first World Championships". International Weightlifting Federation. 2013-03-29. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
^ Siegman, Joseph M. (1992). The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. SP Books. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-56171-028-7.

External links

International Weightlifting Federation (IWF)
Weightlifting World Championships Seniors Statistics Archived 2011-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
Database IWRP

[NoteA-4] At the 2021 World Championships, in accordance with a ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), weightlifters from Russia were not permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem. They instead participated under the name and the modified flag of the Russian Weightlifting Federation (RWF).

[NoteB-5] At the 2023 World Championships, in accordance with sanctions imposed following by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, weightlifters from Belarus were not permitted to use the name, flag, or anthem of Belarus. They instead participated as "Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)", their medals were not included in the official medal table.

[:1-1] "Weightlifting History". International Weightlifting Federation. Retrieved 2023-01-25.

[2] "122 years since the first World Championships". International Weightlifting Federation. 2013-03-29. Retrieved 2023-01-25.

[3] Siegman, Joseph M. (1992). The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. SP Books. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-56171-028-7.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[a]

[b]

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