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IWF120y/70 – 2024: Solfrid Koanda (NOR) is the last one to know she won gold

It is certainly one of the funniest and most remembered images of the weightlifting competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: in the women’s 81kg, Solfrid Koanda wins the gold for Norway, but always in her “bubble” and “protected” by her coaches regarding the progress of the event, she is finally informed that she was Olympic champion after the world and spectators on site had already understood the victory was hers. And what a triumph it was: after lifting 121kg in Snatch, she performs 154kg in the Clean & Jerk, for a total of 275kg. Her last failed C&J of 162kg was not even necessary to ensure the gold… With this success, Koanda, born in 1998, became the first female Norwegian lifter to win (and medal) at the Olympics, after a solitary achievement by her compatriot Leif Jenssen in Munich 1972 (gold in the men’s 82.5kg category). Besides the sportive performance, it was also a sweet revenge for a difficult life for Koanda, born to a Finnish mother and Ivorian father, but put into foster care during her teenage years. She starts weightlifting only in 2020, after practicing CrossFit, but very soon obtains excellent results at the international level. In 2021, she earns bronze at the IWF Worlds, before getting the gold a year later. Also with four European titles, the Olympic achievement definitively consecrates Koanda as a star in the world of weightlifting. A full-professional athlete since the end of 2022, she earned her life before as an electrician (she has a degree in

IWF120y/69 – 1968: Serge Reding earns last Olympic medal for Belgium

1920 is an important date, both for the Olympic Movement and for the IWF. After the horror of World War I (leading to the cancellation of the 1916 edition), the Games were staged in Antwerp. Belgium, with the participation of 29 nations (only one more than in 1912). To symbolise the need for peace and unity around the world, it was the first time the Olympic Oath was heard and the Olympic Flag displayed. In that year, our organisation also underwent major changes, almost like a re-birth since its foundation in 1905, concentrating its efforts on the sole sport of weightlifting. As the host nation of the Games, Belgium (affiliated to the IWF since 1912) sent a strong contingent of athletes to Antwerp. Three of them won medals in weightlifting – Frans De Haes clinched gold (he remains the only Belgian Olympic champion in history) in the 60kg category, while Louis Williquet and Georges Rooms got respectively the silver and the bronze in the 67.5kg. The weightlifting community in Belgium had to wait 48 years to witness another (the last until present days) achievement at Olympic level: in 1968, in Mexico City, Serge Reding (photo) won the silver in the +90kg category, lifting 195-147.5-212.5-555. Until his sudden death at the age of 33 in 1975, Reding won three additional silver medals at the World Championships – 1969, 1970, and 1974. Moreover, he established six World Records throughout his career, becoming the most prolific lifter in Belgian

IWF120y/68 – 2004: Halil Mutlu (TUR) enters a very ‘exclusive’ club

After winning his third consecutive gold medal at the Games, Halil Mutlu (TUR) entered in 2004 in the very “exclusive” club of the lifters with three Olympic titles. Born in July 1973 in Bulgaria, he starts to be noticed at the beginning of the 1990s, when he won his first medals at the European level: bronze in 1991 and 1992. At 19, he takes part in his first Games, in Barcelona, finishing fifth in his category (52kg). The following years, his domination is overwhelming and will materialise in three Olympic victories (Atlanta 1996: 132.5-155-287.5; Sydney 2000: 137.5-167.5-305; Athens 2004: 135-160-295) and five titles at the IWF World Championships (1994, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2003). Competing in four different bodyweight categories throughout his career (52kg, 54kg, 56kg, and 62kg), Mutlu established 21 World Records (10 in Snatch, six in Clean & Jerk, and five in Total). His personal bests were 138.5 in Snatch, 168 in C&J, and 305 in Total. Having retired in 2008, the Turkish “Dynamo” (the nickname by which he was known) also collected nine gold medals at the European Championships and was one of the few athletes in history to have lifted the equivalent of three times his own body weight. Mutlu was the fourth weightlifter to have earned three gold medals at the Olympics, after his compatriot Naim Suleymanoglu (1988-1996), Pyrros Dimas (GRE, 1992-2000), and Kakhi Kakhiashvili (GEO/GRE,

IWF120y/67 – 1948: Lifters from the five continents are represented at the Olympics

The presence of weightlifting at the Games reflects the evolution of the sport in the five continents, the status of our International Federation in the Olympic Movement, and is even determined by the location of the biggest sports event on the planet. It all started modestly, in the first edition of Games, in Athens 1896: seven lifters from five nations. In 1904, in St. Louis (USA), weightlifting had its poorest Olympic presence: only five athletes from two countries (the host nation, plus Greece). Things became more interesting from the 1924 edition onwards: in Paris, our Sport is represented for the first time with more than 100 athletes – 107 (only men at the time). The number of nations remains on the other hand low, with no more than 16 countries. The end of World War II meant a turning point for weightlifting, as the London 1948 Games (photo from a weightlifting podium ceremony), attended by 120 lifters, will have representation from the five continents, a first – Australia and New Zealand began their weightlifting Olympic road in the British capital. Oceania was finally present at the Games! Until 1996, the last edition only attended by men, the participation steadily improved (the exception being Melbourne 1956, much due to the geographical location of the event), with the highest number being Barcelona 1992, with 245 male lifters, from 69 countries. From Sydney 2000, women are also part of the competition, and including the last edition of the Games, in 2024 in Paris, the most significant overall presence in the Olympics, was in Rio 2016, with 260 lifters – 156 men and 104

IWF120y/66 – 2016: Oscar Figueroa, the shiniest Colombian star

It is normally a feat associated with strong countries in the Olympic arena, those winning many dozens of medals in a single edition of the Games: to place two of their athletes on the podium within a difference of hours. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Colombia won four medals (overall), but two of them came in a two-hour gap in the weightlifting competition, with Yeison Lopez earning silver in the men’s 89kg and Mari Sanchez finishing also second in the women’s 71kg, on August 9. These were the medals number 10 and 11 in Colombian Olympic weightlifting, a country that has collected podium presences without interruption since the Sydney 2000 edition. In Australia, Maria Isabel Urrutia (women’s 75kg) became the first-ever gold medallist for her country (all sports), an achievement that was followed by one bronze (Athens 2004 – Mabel Mosquera, women’s 63kg) and two silver linings (Beijing 2008 – Diego Salazar, men’s 62kg, and Leydi Solis, women’s 69kg). In London 2012, Oscar Figueroa started his route to becoming the most successful Colombian lifter so far – in the men’s 62kg, he earned a silver, but he would upgrade that result in Rio 2016, with the Olympic title. He is the only Colombian lifter with two Olympic medals, including one gold. His teammate Luis Javier Mosquera climbed also on the podium twice, but never on the highest march – bronze in Rio 2016 and silver in Tokyo 2020ne. The list of Olympic Colombian medallists is completed by the 2012 bronze of Ubaldina Valoyes, in the women’s 69kg. Weightlifting remains the most successful sport at Olympic level for Colombia, leading the medal chart with 11 medals (out of 38 if all sports are considered). At the IWF World Championships, Colombian lifters have also shone on many occasions, clinching 41 (only Total) and 127 (Snatch, C&J, and Total) medals so

IWF120y/65 – 1972: Norair Nurikian, the first Bulgarian golden lifter

The first day of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games was on and among the weightlifters it was the moment of the weigh-in for the initial category (men’s 60kg) of the competition, to be held the following day. Norair Nurikian was a Bulgarian lifter, born in 1948 to Armenian parents, and was ready for the competition. While on the bus going to the weigh-in, the vehicle burst into flames, but quickly another one is found and Nurikian and others could proceed to the venue (if not, they would have been disqualified). The destiny worked well, as Nurikian became the first-ever Olympic (gold) medallist for his country in weightlifting, winning his category in 127.5-117.5-157.5-402.5. It was the beginning of a successful saga for Bulgarian weightlifting, a sport that has since then brought 39 Olympic medals to the country. Nurikian’s feat in Germany was not an isolated one: four years later, in Montreal, he earns his second gold medal at the Games, this time in the 56kg category (117.5-145-262.5). At the IWF Worlds, he was not so successful, but still manages to climb on three occasions on the podium – silver in 1973 and bronze in 1971 and 1974. Finally, he is also the European champion in 1976 and establishes five World Records during his career. Nurikian was trained by coach Ivan Abadjiev, considered the “Father of Bulgarian Weightlifting”, having produced many Olympic and world champions. Nurikian married soon after the 1972 Olympics, had a son in 1974, and died in March 2025, aged