Drug use has been rife in weightlifting and the sport holds one of the heighest records for disqualification due to drug use. During the 1976 Olympic Games there were eight disqualifications for anabolic steroid use. At the end of 1992, the old weight divisions were abolished to try to replace records which may have been set by drug cheats. Each event has two disciplines, the clean and jerk, and the snatch. The clean and jerk requires the weight to be lifted to the shoulders, then over the head and the snatch takes it up above the head in one movement.
Most competitors lift more in the clean and jerk than in the snatch.
Competitors get three lifts in both disciplines, with the best result in each added together for the total. If there is a tie, the lifter with the lightest body weight is declared the winner. KNOW Women are competing in Olympic weightlifting for the first time in Sydney. Find out why Turkey s three-time Olympic gold medallist Naim Suleymanoglu is no ordinary weightlifter. Updated five times a day once the Games begin.