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"Super-heavyweight power lifter Shane Hamman squeezes his face into a grimace as he grips a metal bar and hoists nearly 400 pounds of iron disks over his 62-inch chest, past his signature braided goatee and above his spiky brown hair before letting the weights crash to the platform.
Sheer strength, of course, is largely responsible for the performance. But so is technology for him and other Olympians.
Hamman uses a setup known as a bar tracking system -- a collection of wires, sensor pads and a video camera that records his lifts.
When Hamman calls up a clip of one of his lifts on a computer screen, accompanying charts and graphs tell him where he put pressure on his feet, how much power he exerted and whether he was able to keep the bar horizontal, among other sorts of feedback.
The Olympian uses the data to adjust his stance in various ways to make his lifts more effective. America's strongest man -- so called for his U.S. record of lifting 518 pounds -- credits the techno-logy for perfecting his technique. He finished seventh in Athens, after having finished 10th at the games in Sydney four years ago.
"I feel a lot more confident with this new technology," said Hamman, 32. "I'm able to see I have room to improve, and this shows me the way to do it right.""
Read more at Olympians on cutting edge of technology
"Shane Hamman proved once again Wednesday night that he's the strongest man in America, adding to his legacy by breaking two of his U.S. records. But he came away from the Olympic super heavyweight lifting finals in awe of Iran's Hossein Rezazadeh, who proved once again that he's the strongest man in the world - by far.
Rezazadeh took the lead on his second lift and was guaranteed gold after his fourth. After his only miss, he came back with a 581-pound (263.5-kg) clean and jerk, setting a world record and matching the record total lift of 1,041.7 pounds (472.5 kg) he set four years ago in Sydney.
"He is intimidating to some of the guys," said Hamman, who at 5-foot-9 and nearly 350 pounds doesn't get intimidated often. "You see how easily he stands up with the bar. Even people who aren't lifters can see it.""
Read more at Iran's Rezazadeh Remains World's Strongest
"A Hungarian weightlifter was under investigation Wednesday for failing to provide a urine sample after his competition, a spokesman for the country's Olympic committee said.
Zoltan Kovacs, who finished at the bottom Tuesday in the 105kg weightlifting, testified before the IOC disciplinary committee, according to Hungarian team spokesman Dezso Vad. A final decision on his case was expected Thursday.
"He said he made a mistake," Vad said. "He was very sorry, and that's all."
The weightlifter claimed he left the venue after his competition and learned a urine sample was needed only when he arrived at the athletes' village, Vad said. Kovacs said he went to the testing center three times, but could find no one willing to help him, the spokesman added."
Read more at Hungarian Weightlifter Under Investigation
The winner of the Gold Medal: Hossein Reza Zadeh from Iran
The winner of the Silver Medal: Viktors Scerbatihs from Latvia
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Velichko Cholakov from Bulgaria
The winner of the Gold Medal: Dmitry Berestov from Russia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Ferenc Gyurkovics from Hungary
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Igor Razoronov from Ukraine
"The Indian government has terminated the contracts of national weightlifting coaches Pal Singh Sandhu of India and Leonid Taranenko of Belarus.
It says that both have been implicated in a doping scandal after two Indian women weightlifters tested positive for drugs at the Olympic Games.
International Weightlifting authorities have already suspended Pratima Kumari and Sanamacha Chanu pending an inquiry.
The weightlifting pair tested positive in Athens for banned substances."
Read more at India sacks weightlifting coaches
"Milen Dobrev of Bulgaria won the gold medal in the men's 94kg weightlifting class with a total mark of 407.5kg.
Khadjimourad Akkaev of Russia was second with a total weight of 405kg, while fellow countryman Eduard Tjukin was third with a total of 397.5kg.
"I was well prepared for these Olympic Games and I believed I would be a medallist. I am very happy because my dreams came true," said Dobrev, the current world and European champion.
Akakios Kakiasvilis of Greece, who was attempting to become the first athlete in history to win four straight Olympic weightlifting titles, didn't finish the event. He missed on all three of his clean and jerk attempts."
Read more at Dobrev of Bulgaria wins gold in men's 94kg weightlifting class
The winner of the Gold Medal: Milen Dobrev from Bulgaria
The winner of the Silver Medal: Khadjimourad Akkaev from Russia
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Eduard Tjukin from Russia
"The International Olympic Committee has stripped a Greek weightlifter of his bronze medal and expelled him from the Athens Games for a doping offense.
Officials say Leonidas Sampanis tested positive for twice the allowed amount of the male hormone testosterone. Sampanis, who denies any wrongdoing, is the ninth weightlifter at the Games to fail a drug test, and the first to lose a medal as a result. The bronze he won in the men's 62-kilogram category will go to Venezuela's Israel Jose Rubio Rivero."
Read more at Greek Weightlifter Stripped of Olympic Medal
"A former world champion Russian weightlifter was pulled from the Olympics on Saturday because of a positive drug test, a team official said.
Albina Khomich was barred from competing in Saturday's 165-pound (75-kg) heavyweight division by the international weightlifting federation, said Alexander Rattner, a Russian Olympic committee spokesman.
Khomich tested positive in a pre-competition screening by the federation, Rattner said. A backup sample will be analyzed Sunday to verify the result, he said.
Khomich, 23, was world champion in her weight class in 2001. She finished second at the world championships in 2002 and 2003.
She's the ninth weightlifter to have failed a drug test in Athens."
Read more at Russian weightlifter pulls out of Olympics
The winner of the Gold Medal: Taner Sagir from Turkey
The winner of the Silver Medal: Sergey Filimonov from Kazakhstan
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Oleg Perepetchenov from Russia
"Teenager Liu Chunhong of China set a world record in winning the women's 69kg weightlifting division on Thursday. Chunhong won the gold with maybe the best-ever performance in the sport, as a total of 18 World and Olympic records were broken in the event at the Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall.
Liu broke records with each of her five lifts and finished the event holding all six world and Olympic records in the light heavyweight class for snatch (122.5kg), clean and jerk (153kg) and total (275kg)."
Read more at Chinese Teenager Rewrites Record Book in Weightlifting
The winner of the Gold Medal: Chunhong Liu from China
The winner of the Silver Medal: Eszter Krutzler from Hungary
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Zarema Kasaeva from Russia
"Five weightlifters were suspended Thursday for flunking drug tests they took before the Olympics, including two who were pulled out just before walking to the lifting stand.
The International Weightlifting Federation said the suspended lifters were Wafa Ammouri of Morocco (website - news) , Zoltan Kecskes of Hungary, Viktor Chislean of Moldova, Pratima Kumari Na of India and Sule Sahbaz of Turkey - raising to 20 the number of world-class weightlifters suspended this year."
Read more at IWF Suspends Five More Weightlifters
The winner of the Gold Medal: Guozheng Zhang from China
The winner of the Silver Medal: Bae Young Lee from Korea, South
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Nokolay Pechalov from Croatia
The winner of the Gold Medal: Natalya Skakun from Ukraine
The winner of the Silver Medal: Hanna Batsiushka from Belarus
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Tatsiana Stukalava from Belarus
"Iran's Hossein Rezazadeh has been known as the world's strongest man since lifting a weight equivalent to three regular-sized refrigerators to win the super heavyweight gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
American rival Shane Hamman performed a similarly impressive feat of strength in last year's world championships in Vancouver: He raised an entire country into the Olympics with a single lift.
Hamman didn't come close to beating the phone booth-sized Rezazadeh in those finals, but his American-record 507-pound lift in the clean and jerk gave him eighth place.
More importantly, it earned the United States three men's berths in the Athens Olympics; had he missed, no American male weightlifter would be competing.
The biggest lift of his life, in size, also turned out to be the biggest lift of his life in importance."
Read more at Weightlifter Shane Hamman lifted USA into Olympics, now he wants to medal in them :
Yanqing Chen has just won the Women's 58kg Weightlifting Gold Medal.
The winner of the Gold Medal: Yanqing Chen from China
The winner of the Silver Medal: Song Hui Ri from Korea, North (DPR of Korea)
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Wandee Kameaim from Thailand
"Fearless Turk Halil Mutlu, who confirmed his place amongst the legends of weightlifting by winning a third Olympic gold medal, issued a challenge to China's new generation of lifters ahead of the 2008 Beijing Games.
"I am not scared of my competitors, just scared of myself," said Mutlu, who is the ultimate showman. "I know how to win. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics there are going to be lot of locals (Chinese) and I invite them to compete against me."
Mutlu, nicknamed the 'Little Dynamo', repelled the challenge of China's Wu Meijin to win the 56kg gold medal on Sunday."
Read more at Defiant Mutlu issues challenge to China's weightlifting wannabes
"A refereeing blunder robbed Thailand gold medallist Udomporn Polsak of what she thought was an Olympic record, red-faced weightlifting officials admitted on Monday.
Udomporn lifted 125,5kg in her final effort in the clean and jerk on Sunday to top the record of China's Yang Xia set at the 2000 Sydney Games and add further joy to becoming Thailand's first female Olympic winner.
News of the record was broadcast on television, radio and the semi-official Olympic News Service but the official result showed the lift as 125kg."
Read more at Rules foul-up costs weightlifter record
"Thais rejoiced Monday after local weightlifter Udomporn Polsak clinched the country's first gold medal at the Athens Olympics - the first ever for a Thai woman - with officials promising financial rewards and family members taking Buddhist vows to show thanks.
Udomporn's victory Sunday in the 53-kilogram (117-pound) class with a total of 490 1/2 pounds handed Thailand its second medal in Athens. Aree Wiratthaworn won bronze medal in the women's 48-kilogram (105 1/2-pound) class.
The 23-year-old's grandfather and father had earlier prayed at a statue of a mythical folk hero, Yamo, and promised to be ordained as Buddhist monks if Udomporn prevailed at the Games. In Thailand, men often enter the monkhood temporarily to commemorate significant changes in their lives."
Read more at Thais celebrate weightlifter's Olympic win
"THE Olympics ended quietly for Iraqi weightlifter Mohammed Ali yesterday but peace will be rare in the coming weeks when he returns home to Sadr City, one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Ali arrived in Athens, under tight security with the rest of the Iraq Olympic delegation, dreaming of following in the footsteps of weightlifter Aziz Abdul Wahid, whose bronze at the 1960 Rome Summer Games remains the embattled country’s only Olympic medal.
But there will be no medal for Ali in Athens, with the most special moment of his career unfolding in a near empty Nikaia weightlifting hall watched by only a handful of spectators, officials and journalists."
Read more at Iraqi still dreams of Olympic gold
Halil Mutlu has just won the Gold medal for Turkey in the 56kg Weightlifting for Men. His team mate Sedat Artuc took out the Bronze medal.
Gold - MUTLU Halil - Turkey
Silver - WU Meijin - China
Bronze - ARTUC Sedat - Turkey
"On a day of weightlifting firsts, world champion Udomporn Polsak got the one that counted most by becoming the first woman from Thailand to win an Olympic gold medal.
Polsak, missing only once during six powerfully executed lifts that gradually pulled her away from a field of eight, held off Indonesia's Lisa Raema Rumbewas at 117 pounds (53kg) Sunday, winning only the third gold medal ever for Thailand.
The first two golds were won by boxers, Wijan Ponlid in 2000 and Somluck Kamsing in 1996.
"I'm glad to be the first to get the gold medal," she said. "I've been training more than 14 years and I've had tremendous support.""
Read more at Weightlifter Polsak becomes first Thai woman to win Olympic gold
Congratulations to Udomporn Polsak from Thailand who has just won the Women's 53kg Weightlifing Gold Medal.
The winner of the Gold Medal: Udomporn Polsak from Thailand
The winner of the Silver Medal: Raema Lisa Rumbewas from Indonesia
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Mabel Mosquera from Colombia
"Turkey's Nurcan Taylan captured the gold medal in the women's 48kg weightlifting event Saturday night at the Olympics, but it was a disappointing night for American Tara Cunningham. "
Read more at Nurcan Taylan wins weightlifting gold
"An Indonesian Olympic weightlifter has run way from her team's training centre after sports officials refused to allow her mother to join her in Athens, reports said yesterday.
Lisa Rumbewas, who won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, had earlier threatened not to go to Athens if her mother could not join her. She left the training centre without notice on Tuesday.
“She was disappointed because I was not allowed to go to Athens with her,” Rumbewas' mother, Ida Korwa, was quoted by the Republika daily as saying.
Korwa said her presence was needed by Rumbewas to lift her spirits. "
Read more Indon weightlifter drops team for mum.
"China swept the board in women's weightlifting on a glittering Olympic campaign for Asia highlighted by the emergence of China as a medal table heavyweight in the Sydney Olympic Games.
Four years later, China saw the remarkable rises of lifters from their neighbors in Asia though they still try to assert their supremacy in the world. Asian rivalries warned Chinese strong women's squad on the Busan Asian Games in 2002 as they have stepped onto a higher level.
In women's weightlifting, China isn't as dominant as before, according to Li Shunzhu, head coach of the Chinese women's team.
"Asian strong women have shown their power these years as Thailand, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Indonesia have become our main rivals to snatch the gold medals," Li said.
After Chinese strong women got the full four berths for the Athens Olympics, they chose to give up the 53kg class avoiding facing Ri Song-hui, who delivered the first world record to the Busan Asiad to win the gold for DPR Korea in 2002."
Read more at Asia rises with top nations eyeing better
"Pyrros Dimas and Kakhi Kakiasvilis may be virtually unknown to all but the most devout of Olympic watchers, but in their adopted homeland of Greece they are as-real-as-it-gets reality TV.
When they each compete for a fourth Olympic gold medal in Athens, records are likely to be broken, and not just on the lifting platform.
Just how big are the two in Greek culture - even if, for the moment, they're not as big as Greece's surprise European soccer champions? Greeks simply refer to Dimas with the one-word identifier Pyrros. When he and Kakiasvilis lift during an Olympics, it's not just sports fans who watch but virtually the entire country." Read more at Heavyweights face burden of expectations - The Times of India.
"Polish weightlifter Szymon Kolecki, a silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics, will miss the Athens Games after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.
Kolecki tested positive June 26 and was suspended pending the results of testing on a "B" sample, which were released Monday and confirmed the earlier result.
"Kolecki has to forget about the Olympics," Marek Golab, an official with the Polish Union of Weightlifters, told The Associated Press. He described the absence of Kolecki as "a great loss.""
Source - Polish weightlifter Szymon Kolecki barred from Olympics over steroid test
"Bulgarian Olympic weightlifting champion Galabin Boevski was banned for eight years on Saturday for tampering with his urine sample at last year's world championships.
International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) president Tamas Ajan said Boevski's team mates Zlatan Vanev and Georgi Markov were also given 18-month suspensions and would not be able to compete at the Athens Olympic Games.
The three were ruled to have tampered with their tests at the Vancouver world championships in November. The authorities said their urine samples were identical and had come from one person." Read More at Bulgarian weightlifting champ Boevski banned
The Search Post has a good Olympics preview of Shane Hamman - US Heavy-weight weightlifting champion.
'He's already considered the strongest man in the United States and can squat over 1,000 pounds, clean and jerk 500 and snatch 430. With a 22-inch neck, 22-inch biceps, 22-inch calves, 35-inch thighs, not to mention a long braided beard, Hamman can look like a bully, but he's really a big teddy bear. "That happens sometimes, but most people like it. They like my look and they're not intimidated by me," Hamman said about his tough look. "I'm a pretty nice guy."'
'Tara Cunningham must beat one of China's so-called Dream Team weightlifters to repeat as an Olympic gold medalist in Athens next month.
Unlike the Sydney Games, when Cunningham, then competing as Tara Nott, unexpectedly won the gold medal at 105 1/2 pounds after original winner Isabela Dragneva of Bulgaria failed a drug test, she apparently will compete this time against one of China's top weightlifters.
Perhaps the only surprise was China didn't choose 19-year-old Wang Mingjuan, the two-time defending world champion at 105 1/2 (48 kg), but Li Zhuo, who beat out Wang before this spring's Asian championships. Zhuo set world records in both the snatch and the clean and jerk in September, but Wang won the world championship two months later in Vancouver.' Read More at Cunningham Must Face China for Gold Medal
Polish weightlifter, Szymon Kolecki has tested positive for steroids. If this test is confirmed he will be stripped of his silver medal from the Sydney Olympics and barred from competition in Athens.
'Szymon Kolecki will undergo further tests in a week, Marek Golab, an official with the Polish Union of Weightlifters, said Friday. The results will determine whether Kolecki will compete at next month's Olympics.
"The way it looks right now, he doesn't stand much of a chance," Golab said.'
'A world champion Chinese women's weightlifter will miss next month's Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, after she failed a drug test.
Chinese state-run media report the country's weightlifting association banned Shang Shichun from competition for two years and ordered her to pay a $600 fine.' Source - Chinese Weightlifter to Miss Olympics After Failing Drug Test
The Sport Network has a good introduction to Weightlifting at the Olympics. It includes Olympic Weightlifting history as well as previews of the sport in Athens.
'A sport that dates back to even the most ancient civilizations returns to the birthplace of the Olympics, as Weightlifting takes center stage at the Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall at the 2004 games in Athens from August 14 through the 25th.'
Cheryl Hamworth is gearing up for the Athens Olympics where she will compete for the US in weight lifting.
'But Cheryl, now 21, shakes her head at the tag of being the world's strongest. She's only the strongest in the western hemisphere. That's all.
"Technique, it's all technique. If you're not doing it right, then you're not going to do it well," said Haworth, who will compete for the U.S. at the 2004 Olympics at Athens in August. "It all comes down to physics like keeping the bar close to your body."
While she speaks of physics, her opponents might call it physicality. Haworth stands 5 feet 9 and weighs 296 pounds, but it's her athleticism -- 5.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash and a 30-inch vertical leap -- that dispels many assumptions about weightlifters.
She said matching her bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics -- the first with women's weightlifting as a sport -- would be satisfying. She lifted 270 pounds in the snatch and 330.7 pounds in the clean and jerk without much competition at the May trials in St. Joseph, Mo., to secure her spot in Greece.' Source - Savannah's strongest set to go
Pakistan has banned three weightlifters and a top boxer ahead of the Athens Olympics after they failed doping tests, a sports official Tuesday said.
Source - Weightlifiting - Pakistan bans athletes for doping ahead of Olympics
Welsh Weight Lifter, Michaela Breeze, has sent a warning to her competitors at the Athens Olympics.
'"I'm so focused after a good couple of years, now everything's targeted at Athens," said Breeze, who will compete in the 58kg clean and jerk and snatch.
"East Europe provides the main threat and there are some good Asian lifters.
"But I'm not intimidated and I hope my performance at the European Championship has made them wake up," the 25-year-old told BBC Sport Wales.'
Weightlifting at the Athens Olympics will take place between 14th - 25th August at the Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall.
Most of Greece will likely be watching when countrymen Pyrros Dimas (187 pounds) and Kakhi Kakiasvilis (207 pounds) try to become four-time Olympic champions. Only three Olympic athletes have won four golds in the same event. Neither is a favorite; Dimas is 32, Kakiasvilis is 35, and neither won a medal in the European championships last spring. The big story might again come from one of the smallest competitors - two-time gold medalist Halil Mutlu of Turkey is only 4-11 but can lift more than 400 pounds. Women's weightlifting returns after debuting in Sydney, and American Tara Cunningham (105 pounds, 48 kg) goes for a second gold after a surprise win in 2000.
There will be 15 Gold Medals up for grabs in Olympic Weightlifting in Athens, 8 in Men's events and 7 in Women's events. Results and Medal Winners will be updated below as they happen (click on the links listed for the latest results) - in the mean time keep up with the latest Weightlifting news in our Olympic Weightlifting Archives.
Favorites - Iran, China, Turkey, Australia and Russia should do well and even Armenia could pick up a few medals.
