THE 15 EVENTS:

Men: 56kg, 62kg, 69kg, 77kg, 85kg, 94kg, 105kg, Over 105kg
Women: 48kg, 53kg, 58kg, 63kg, 69kg, 75kg, Over 75kg

THE FORMAT:

All competitors complete a snatch lift then the clean and jerk (three attempts per movement), he/she who averages the highest total is the winner.


MILESTONES:

1896:Weightlifting features at the first modern Olympics in Athens - only two events feature, the one-hand and two-hand lift, in one division - the open category.

1928:The Games begin to feature the three main events: the press, snatch and clean and jerk.

1972:The first two Olympic weightlifting doping cases are registered at the Munich Games.

1976:At the Montreal Games, seven weightlifters (three medalists including two champions) are disqualified for using banned products.

1984:Five cases of doping are registered at the Los Angeles Games.

1988:Another five cases of doping are registered at the Seoul Games, two of which involved two Bulgarian gold medal-winners. The Bulgarian weightlifting team pulls out of the Games.

1992:In an effort to build new foundations, the IWF creates new weight categories which are put into place for the Games in Barcelona.

1998:The IWF cancels all world records in an effort to start 'clean' and redefines all categories.

2000:The men's categories are reduced from 10 to 8 and the women make their debut at the Games with 7 categories.


STARS:

Vassili Alexeiev (USSR):The double Olympic champion in the top weight category at the 1972 and 1976 Games weighed 160 kg and established 80 world records as well as winning 22 world titles.

Naim Suleymanoglu (Bulgaria/Turkey):He stands just 1m49 tall and is considered as the greatest weightlifter of all time. He won three Olympic crowns in 1988 and 1992 (in the 60kg), then in 1996 (in the 64 kg). He won 22 world titles and set 46 world records.

Pyrros Dimas (Greece):He won three Olympic titles in the 82.5kg, 83kg and 85kg categories in 1992, 1996 and 2000 respectively and is also a triple world champion.