Weightlifting is a sport that showcases incredible strength and determination.
Female weightlifters, in particular, have made remarkable contributions to the sport, setting records and winning medals on the global stage.
This game is a perfect example of women’s empowerment. This sport has shown that females are also as strong as men.
Weightlifting has always been a category of men, but females broke all the barriers and came into this field.
Female weightlifters made many remarkable records in this sport. If curious to know, here are the 10 top female Olympic weightlifters:
10. Yang Lian
Yang Lian, a talented Chinese female lifter, made history in the 2006 World Weightlifting Championship.
Competing in the 48kg weight class, she not only secured the gold medal but also set the stage for her illustrious weightlifting career.
Yang Lian went on to break numerous world records, cementing her place as one of the best female weightlifters.
9. Hsu Shu-ching
Hsu was taught by her teacher Tsai Wen-yee. She was the winner of the women’s 53 kg at the 2012 London Olympics, winning the gold medal.
Her incredible journey includes winning the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and setting a world record in weightlifting with a lift of 233kg at the 2014 Asian Games.
Hsu’s accomplishments continued with another gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 53 kg weight category.
Unfortunately, injuries in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships led her to retire from the women’s Olympic weightlifting competition in June 2018.
8. Chen Yanqing
Chen Yanqing is a Chinese weightlifter who participated in both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics.
She has won the gold medal in both competitions, in the 53 kg category.
She is the first woman who has won a gold medal making her the first woman to win gold medals in two successive weightlifting competitions, at the Olympics.
She wanted to participate in the Summer Olympics 2000 but she wasn’t selected by the Chinese Olympics board due to some reasons. She was removed before the game started.
She has also achieved the National Games and East Asia Games and set a world record in her category.
7. Deng Wei
Deng Wei is a famous Chinese female weightlifter.
She has won many weightlifting games, is an Olympic Champion, five-time and also Asian Champion.
She competed in the 58kg category after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the weight classes in 2018.
Deng Wei also participated in the 64kg category, where she set a world record with an impressive lift of 117kg.
6. Oxana Slivenko
Silvenko took part in the women’s 69 kg lifting category and also won the gold medal, setting a World Record in the World Weightlifting Championships in 2007.
She secured the gold medal and set a world record at the World Weightlifting Championships in 2007.
Slivenko continued her dominance in the same weight category, winning another gold medal with a total lift of 276kg.
Although her journey to the London Olympics in 2012 was cut short due to a severe injury during training, Slivenko’s achievements remain awe-inspiring.
5. Natalya Zabolotnaya
Natalya Zabolotnaya, a professional weightlifter, showcased her remarkable strength at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Competing in the women’s 75kg category, she secured the silver medal with a total lift of 272.5kg.
Zabolotnaya’s prowess extended to the European Championship in 2010, where she claimed the gold medal in the 75kg weight category, further solidifying her position as a top-tier weightlifter.
4. Hripsime Khurshudyan
Khurshudyan is an Armenian weightlifter. She won a silver medal at the European Weightlifting Championships in 2006.
She was the first women’s weightlifter from Armenia to win a medal at the European weightlifting championship.
Khurshudyan also won a Junior World Championship in 2007.
Khurshudyan participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 75 kg weight category and finished 11th.
In 2010, she wasn’t found to be fit for the 75kg category and got promoted to the upper level of weight lifting.
In 2012, she participated in the London Olympics in the 76 kg category and won a bronze medal.
She wasn’t only the first Armenian woman to win a weightlifting medal, but also the first woman to win a medal.
3. Wang Mingjuan
Mingjuan won the gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 48kg division, achieving the Gold medal.
In her whole career of weightlifting, she set a total of 12.
Wang Mingjuan maintained a 10-year unbeaten global record to win gold in the first women’s weightlifting event that was organized by the London Games, granting the Chinese team a great chance to own their Olympic titles earned in Beijing.
2. Tatiana Kashirina
Tatiana Kashirina is a Russian female weightlifter, Olympic silver medalist, 5 times World Champion, and 8-time European Champion.
Kashirina had won the world championship five times, in the years 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018, in both the +75kg and +87kg categories.
She also won the silver medal in the Woman’s +75 kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Presently, she holds a neat world record of 185 kg along with the world record of 145 kg and a together world record of a total of 330 kg in the +87 kg weight category.
Kashirina has set a total of 23 in her whole weightlifting career.
1. Zhou Lulu
Zhou Lulu is currently the best female weightlifter in the world.
In the women’s super heavyweight class, by setting an aggregate world record of 328 kg in the world weightlifting championships in Paris, France.
Zhou Lulu has proved herself the strong powerful woman in the world by lifting a total weight of 333kg in the over 75kg division in the heaviest weight lifting category, by breaking the total world record of 328kg, made by her own, to win the gold medal in the London Olympics.
These ten exceptional female weightlifters have pushed the boundaries of the sport, inspiring generations to come.
Their unwavering dedication, remarkable strength, and unparalleled achievements have solidified their positions as some of the best weightlifters in history.
Their legacy will continue to inspire future athletes to strive for greatness and redefine what is possible in weightlifting.
