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 20 weight categories (10 for men and 10 for women):

• Men categories: 55 kg, 61 kg, 67 kg, 73 kg, 81 kg, 89 kg, 96 kg, 102 kg, 109 kg and +109 kg.
• Women categories: 45 kg, 49 kg, 55 kg, 59 kg, 64 kg, 71 kg, 76 kg, 81 kg, 87 kg and +87 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				# 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	2–17 September	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
LXXXIX	XXXII	2025		Forde, Norway

All-time medal table

Total

All-time big (total) medal count below updated after the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	190	91	44	325
2	Soviet Union	151	90	33	274
3	Bulgaria	80	82	65	227
4	United States	42	53	31	126
5	Russia	38	48	35	121
6	Austria	32	27	31	90
7	Poland	25	38	57	120
8	Germany	24	34	27	85
9	Iran	24	15	28	67
10	Chinese Taipei	16	22	25	63
11	Turkey	15	19	15	49
12	Kazakhstan	15	8	9	32
13	North Korea	13	22	24	59
14	South Korea	12	19	24	55
15	Egypt	12	13	14	39
16	Hungary	11	38	42	91
17	Greece	10	15	11	36
18	Japan	10	13	28	51
19	Thailand	8	19	20	47
20	Colombia	8	13	14	35
21	Belarus	8	8	8	24
22	Ukraine	8	6	19	33
23	Cuba	8	5	11	24
24	Georgia	8	4	5	17
25	Romania	7	13	14	34
26	France	7	11	20	38
27	Armenia	5	9	12	26
28	Indonesia	5	9	10	24
29	Great Britain	5	5	10	20
30	Qatar	5	3	4	12
31	East Germany	4	19	29	52
32	Uzbekistan	4	4	3	11
33	Switzerland	4	4	2	10
34	Finland	4	2	10	16
35	India	3	9	5	17
36	West Germany	3	5	3	11
37	Estonia	3	4	6	13
38	Czechoslovakia	3	3	15	21
39	Azerbaijan	3	1	3	7
40	Norway	2	3	1	6
41	Turkmenistan	2	3	0	5
42	Spain	2	2	3	7
43	Italy	1	5	9	15
44	Vietnam	1	4	5	10
45	Australia	1	4	4	9
46	Latvia	1	3	7	11
47	Canada	1	2	5	8
48	Sweden	1	1	7	9
49	Bahrain	1	1	0	2
	Chile	1	1	0	2
51	Venezuela	1	0	4	5
52	Philippines	1	0	3	4
53	Slovakia	1	0	1	2
	Tunisia	1	0	1	2
55	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
56	Belgium	0	4	3	7
57	Denmark	0	3	0	3
58	Ecuador	0	2	7	9
59	Nigeria	0	2	3	5
60	Netherlands	0	2	0	2
61	Moldova	0	1	3	4
62	Argentina	0	1	1	2
63	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
	New Zealand	0	1	0	1
69	Dominican Republic	0	0	5	5
	Myanmar	0	0	5	5
71	Russian Weightlifting Federation	0	0	3	3
72	Saudi Arabia	0	0	2	2
73	Brazil	0	0	1	1
	Iraq	0	0	1	1
	Macau	0	0	1	1
	Mexico	0	0	1	1
Totals (76 entries)		852	853	852	2557

Big and small medals

All-time big (total) and small (snatch, clean & jerk, and press) medal count below updated after the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	568	267	149	984
2	Soviet Union	331	208	93	632
3	Bulgaria	226	222	189	637
4	Russia	119	133	91	343
5	Poland	64	99	124	287
6	United States	59	90	75	224
7	Iran	53	43	51	147
8	North Korea	49	66	58	173
9	Turkey	49	56	42	147
10	Chinese Taipei	42	71	72	185
11	Hungary	39	89	107	235
12	Germany	36	43	36	115
13	Kazakhstan	34	31	28	93
14	Austria	32	27	34	93
15	South Korea	30	62	74	166
16	Thailand	29	51	48	128
17	Georgia	27	11	10	48
18	Greece	26	43	41	110
19	Cuba	26	22	36	84
20	Belarus	25	26	33	84
21	Japan	24	50	74	148
22	Romania	24	29	43	96
23	Colombia	22	32	52	106
24	Ukraine	22	27	46	95
25	Egypt	21	18	26	65
26	East Germany	20	61	71	152
27	Armenia	16	30	36	82
28	Uzbekistan	16	15	14	45
29	Indonesia	15	21	31	67
30	West Germany	13	14	15	42
31	France	12	21	33	66
32	Finland	12	11	22	45
33	Qatar	12	9	11	32
34	Norway	9	5	5	19
35	India	8	28	15	51
36	Azerbaijan	8	5	7	20
37	Vietnam	6	12	16	34
38	Czechoslovakia	5	14	40	59
39	Great Britain	5	12	23	40
40	Australia	5	8	15	28
41	Turkmenistan	5	8	4	17
42	Spain	5	6	17	28
43	Switzerland	5	5	3	13
44	Chile	5	1	1	7
45	Estonia	4	5	6	15
46	Philippines	4	1	8	13
47	Russian Weightlifting Federation	4	0	7	11
48	Italy	3	10	17	30
49	Belgium	3	8	4	15
50	Sweden	3	4	12	19
51	Myanmar	3	2	8	13
52	Venezuela	3	1	13	17
53	Slovakia	3	1	4	8
54	Latvia	2	5	15	22
55	Moldova	2	3	7	12
56	Albania	2	3	3	8
57	Bahrain	2	3	1	6
58	Lithuania	2	2	1	5
59	Tunisia	2	0	4	6
60	Canada	1	10	9	20
61	Ecuador	1	6	19	26
62	Nigeria	1	5	12	18
63	Mongolia	1	3	2	6
64	Saudi Arabia	1	0	4	5
65	Dominican Republic	0	4	9	13
66	Croatia	0	4	0	4
67	Denmark	0	3	0	3
68	Mexico	0	2	5	7
69	Lebanon	0	2	2	4
70	Nauru	0	2	0	2
	Netherlands	0	2	0	2
	New Zealand	0	2	0	2
73	Brazil	0	1	2	3
74	Argentina	0	1	1	2
	Kyrgyzstan	0	1	1	2
	Puerto Rico	0	1	1	2
77	Guyana	0	1	0	1
	Malaysia	0	1	0	1
	Micronesia	0	1	0	1
80	Macau	0	0	3	3
81	Syria	0	0	2	2
82	Algeria	0	0	1	1
	CIS	0	0	1	1
	Iraq	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 (88 entries)		2206	2202	2200	6608

• 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
	Yurik Vardanyan	Soviet Union	M	75 kg / 82.5 kg / 90 kg	1977	1985	7	1	–	8
4	Josef Grafl	Austria	M	Open / +80 kg	1904	1913	6	2	–	8
5	Tommy Kono	United States	M	75 kg / 82.5 kg	1953	1962	6	1	1	8
6	John Davis	United States	M	82.5 kg / +82.5 kg / +90 kg	1938	1953	6	1	–	7
7	Yoshinobu Miyake	Japan	M	56 kg / 60 kg	1961	1968	6	–	1	7
	David Rigert	Soviet Union	M	82.5 kg / 90 kg / 100 kg	1970	1978	6	–	1	7
9	Lasha Talakhadze	Georgia	M	+105 kg / +109 kg	2015	2022	6	–	–	6
10	Waldemar Baszanowski	Poland	M	67.5 kg / 75 kg	1961	1971	5	5	–	10
11	Tatiana Kashirina	Russia	F	+75 kg / +87 kg	2009	2019	5	3	–	8
12	Arkady Vorobyov	Soviet Union	M	82.5 kg / 90 kg	1950	1961	5	2	1	8
13	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
16	Mohammad Nassiri	Iran	M	56 kg / 52 kg	1966	1976	5	1	3	9
17	Kuo Hsing-chun	Chinese Taipei	F	58 kg / 59 kg	2013	2022	5	1	1	7
18	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
	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
	Om Yun-chol	North Korea	M	56 kg / 55 kg	2013	2019	5	–	–	5