Weightlifting factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS, July 13 (Reuters) -- Factbox on weightlifting at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Weightlifting was popular in ancient Greece and Egypt but did not feature in the ancient Olympics. The sport was included in the first modern Games in Athens in 1896, when there were no restrictions on the weight of competitors and separate events were held for one-handed and two-handed lifting. The first world weightlifting championships had taken place five years earlier.

Weightlifting with different categories began at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp. Women's events were introduced at Sydney in 2000.

The sport has been hit by drugs scandals and after the 1992 Barcelona Games the International Weightlifting Federation changed all the weight categories, wiping out all the previous world records and allowing the sport to start afresh. But in Sydney in 2000 three Bulgarian weightlifters were stripped of their medals after testing positive for a banned diuretic. Two Romanian lifters were also thrown out after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, though they were cleared in a second test after the Games.

EVENTS

Eight weight classes for men, seven for women.

Competitors must lift in two categories -- first snatch, then clean and jerk -- and the two lifts are put together to determine the final placement. Each competitor can have three attempts at each category.

In the snatch, the competitor lifts the bar overhead in a single movement. In the clean and jerk, the weight is raised to shoulder level in one movement, then lifted overhead in a second movement.

2000 CHAMPIONS

Men

56kg: Halil Mutlu (Turkey)

62kg: Nikolay Pechalov (Croatia)

69kg: Galabin Boevski (Bulgaria)

77kg: Zhan Xugang (China)

85kg: Pyrros Dimas (Greece)

94kg: Akakios Kakiasvilis (Greece)

105kg: Hossein Tavakoli (Iran)

Over 105kg: Hossein Rezazadeh (Iran)

Women

48kg: Tara Nott (U.S.)

53kg: Yang Xia (China)

58kg: Soraya Jimenez Mendivil (Mexico)

63kg: Chen Xiaomin (China)

69kg: Lin Weining (China)

75kg: Maria Isabel Urrutia (Colombia)

Over 75kg: Ding Meiyuan (China)

OLYMPIC PROGRAMME

August 14: Women's 48kg

August 15: Women's 53kg

<_TABLE><2>

Men's 56kg

August 16: Women's 58kg

Men's 62kg

August 18: Women's 63kg

Men's 69kg

August 19: Women's 69kg

Men's 77kg

August 20: Women's 75kg

August 21: Women's over 75kg

Men's 85kg

August 23: Men's 94kg

August 24: Men's 105kg

August 25: Men's over 105kg

VENUE

Nikea Olympic Weightlifting Hall in southwest Athens. The

hall seats 5,191 spectators.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.iwf.net

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.