This article details the qualifying phase for weightlifting at the 2016 Summer Olympics. The competition at these Games includes 260 athletes. Each competing nation is allowed to enter a maximum of 10 competitors, 6 men and 4 women. 2014 and 2015 World Weightlifting Championships are the main qualifying events for the 2016 Olympic games. NOCs achieve qualification places according to their position in the joint team classification by points adding those scored in the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. One continental qualification event is held for each continent in 2016. Only NOCs which have not gained quota places in the Main Qualification Events may obtain quota places.
On November 19, 2015, the International Weightlifting Federation banned Bulgaria from competing at the Rio Olympics due to doping, and took one Olympic entry place from Romania and Uzbekistan because of "multiple positive cases" of doping.
On 22 June 2016, the International Weightlifting Federation announced that a number of countries would lose quota places in weightlifting at the Games because of doping violations. IWF then went on to state that if the testing of 'B' samples confirmed any country had three or more violations in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic retesting programme, that country would be suspended from international weightlifting for one year, and would thereby be excluded from the Games in Rio, alongside the already suspended Bulgaria.
IWF clarified that after retesting of 'A' samples from 2008 and 2012 that the three countries therefore scheduled for suspension were Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. Russia is appealing this decision also to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 6 July 2016. In addition, quota places have been removed from Azerbaijan (2), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), Moldova (2), North Korea (2), Russia (2), Romania (1) and Uzbekistan (1).
Summary NOC Men Women Total 11***2 112 1 1 11 527 112 1 1 5**38 1*** 1 325 112 112 112 6410 549 11 1*** 1 112 1 1 1 1 123 123 1 1 1 1 639 112 112 415 31***4 415 1 1 112 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 112 527 5 5 1 1 1 1 112 347 5**3**8 1 1 1 1 112 112 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 11 11 134 2**1***3 1***12 112 1 1 112 11 11 5**3**8 1 1 112 112 415 11 1 1 2*24 112 1 1 1*** 1 1 1 1 1 11 437 314 1 1 11 1 1 347 549 112 134 112 448 11 134 11 50*5 134 314Total: 94 NOCs 156104260 * The International Olympic Committee and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) have decided to remove one quota place from Romania (men) and Uzbekistan (women) due to "multiple positive cases" of doping. ** On June 22, 2016, IWF further removed 11 quotas from 6 NOCs: loses 1 man and 1 woman quota. loses 1 man quota. , , and each lose 1 man and 1 woman quota. loses 2 men quota. *** On July 29, 2016, the IWF banned the entire Russian team (which had quota for eight athletes; five men and three women). The IWF then reallocated the quota as follows: , , and each get a woman quota. , , , , and each get a man quota.
Timeline Event Date Venue 2014 World Championships November 8–16, 2014 Almaty, Kazakhstan 2015 World Championships November 20–28, 2015 Houston, United States 2016 European Championships April 10–16, 2016 Førde, Norway 2016 Asian Championships April 22–30, 2016 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 2016 African Championships May 8–13, 2016 Yaoundé, Cameroon 2016 Oceania Championships May 24–28, 2016 Suva, Fiji 2016 Pan American Championships June 7–11, 2016 Cartagena, Colombia Olympic Qualification Ranking List June 20, 2016 — Tripartite Commission Invitations June 2016 —
Individual ranking events Event Date Venue 2014 Commonwealth Games July 24–31, 2014 Glasgow, Great Britain 2014 IWF Grand Prix – President's Cup September 5–8, 2014 Noyabrsk, Russia 2014 Asian Games September 20–26, 2014 Incheon, South Korea 2015 IWF Junior World Championships June 6–13, 2015 Wrocław, Poland 2015 Pacific Games July 5–8, 2015 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 2015 Pan American Games July 11–15, 2015 Toronto, Canada 2015 African Games September 7–9, 2015 Brazzaville, Congo 2015 IWF Grand Prix September 21–23, 2015 Fuzhou, China 2015 IWF Grand Prix – President's Cup December 12–13, 2015 Grozny, Russia 2016 IWF Grand Prix – President's Cup March 18–20, 2016 Kazan, Russia 2016 IWF Grand Prix – Fajr Cup May 31 – June 2, 2016 Tehran, Iran
Men Note: In the 2015 Qualification ranking, the IWF deleted Bulgaria (BUL) from the ranking list and recalculated all scores accordingly (i.e. as if Bulgarian athletes had not competed). If the same changes are made to the 2014 ranking, point scores were changed and ranking places were altered.
World Championships Teams 1st–6th: 6 athletes Teams 7th–12th: 5 athletes Teams 13th–18th: 4 athletes Teams 19th–24th: 3 athletes Rank Quota NOC Year Category Subtotal Total56 62 69 77 85 94 105 +1051 6 2014 22 25+22 21 23 28+ 141 286 2015 25 22 28+23 25+22 1452 6 2014 23+22 23 28 28 22 146 248 2015 25+ 28 28 21+0 0 1023 6 2014 20 22 20+19 22+ 21 124 246 2015 20 17 20 28+ 16 21 1224 6 2014 20 16 23 28+25 28 + 140 228 2015 13 28+19 0+ 28 885 6 2014 19 25 20+18 23+17 122 214 2015 25 13+9 18 9 18+ 926 6 2014 28 28 23+17 25+21 142 213 2015 28 21+0 22 0+0 717 5 2014 13 25+21 20+14 14 107 201 2015 17+15 22+14 16+10 948 5 2014 16+15 22+ 10 0+ 8 71 190 2015 21+18 25+23 11 + 21 1199 5 2014 9 21 12+ 13 19 13+ 87 188 2015 15 23+0 21 23+19 10110 5 2014 15 23+14 25+15 14 106 184 2015 7 18+11 18+17 7 7811 5 2014 14 18+ 28+ 21+13 25 119 180 2015 2 0 25 22 0 12 6112 5 2014 18+6 17+1 13+ 9 64 167 2015 20+19 10+ 20+18 16 10313 4 2014 6 19+ 20+9 10+9 73 159 2015 13 25+20 20+ 8+0 8614 4 2014 12 18+ 19 15 17 17 98 158 2015 3 11+ 12 17+ 17+0 6015 4 2014 13+6 12 10+8 19+ 68 150 2015 + 15+7 15+11 20+14 8216 4 2014 0 18+0 0 18+5 41 136 2015 22 23+14 19 13+4 9517 4 2014 11 18 10 18+7 64 136 2015 17 0 11 15+ 17+12 7218 4 2014 19+0 17+11 8 55 120 2015 18+ 16+12 9+8 2 6519 3 2014 7 0 5 4+0 20 36 109 2015 5 11 10+3 28+16 7320 3 2014 12+6 1 11 30 104 2015 15+4 12+8 21+14 7421 3 2014 25+21 3 0 0 49 101 2015 23+12 12 0 5 5222 3 2014 5 3 12+8 16+15 + 59 93 2015 16+0 8+0 4+ 6 3423 3 2014 19+10 8 6+ 6 1 50 91 2015 9 3+0 7 0 22 4124 3 2014 8+4 + 9 1+0 15 37 90 2015 11 19+0 3+ 12+8 5325 2014 13 4 8+ 12 3+ 7 47 89 2015 14+0 3+1 15+ 9 4226 2014 5+0 0 0 0 5 10 85 2015 8+5 18+16 23+ 5 7527 2014 15 0 0+0 12 16 43 67 2015 0 0 0 13 11 2428 2014 0 0 0 17 0 0 17 66 2015 13+1 0+ 14 7 14 4929 2014 0 23+14 0 3+0 40 60 2015 4+0 10+0 6+0 2030 2014 17+0 16+11 0+ 1 45 55 2015 0 5+0 4+1 1031 2014 3 10 13 26 52 2015 0+0 19+0 7+0 2632 2014 0 14 3 17 50 2015 14 19 3333 2014 0 0+0 4+ 6+3 13 48 2015 19 16 3534 2014 0 0 22+0 22 47 2015 25 2535 2014 47 2015 13 9 20+0 5 4736 2014 10+9 7 26 46 2015 6 10 0 4 2037 2014 0 4+2 2 11 19 43 2015 0 0+ 7+0 0 17 2438 2014 16 16 39 2015 23 2339 2014 9 4 13 32 2015 13 6 1940 2014 0 1 16+10 2 29 29 2015 41 2014 0 0+0 0 28 2015 0 3 0 15+10 2842 2014 23 2015 0 21 2+0 2343 2014 0 0 11 11 23 2015 0 8+2 2 0 1244 2014 0 2+0 0+0 6 8 23 2015 10 0 0 0 5 1545 2014 22 2015 22 2246 2014 7+0 11+2 0 20 20 2015 47 2014 2 2 0 5+0 0 9 17 2015 7+1 0 0 0+0 848 2014 14 14 14 2015 0 049 2014 11 3 14 14 2015 50 2014 7 7 13 2015 6 651 2014 0 4 0 0 4 0 8 8 2015 52 2014 0 7 0 7 7 2015 0 053 2014 0 0 2 2 5 2015 1+0 2 354 2014 0 0 0 0 4 2015 0 4 455 2014 4 2015 4 456 2014 3 2015 3 357 2014 0 0 2 2015 2 0 0 0+0 258 2014 1 1 1 2015 0 0 059 2014 0 0 0 1 2015 1 0 160 2014 1 1 1 2015 61 2014 1 2015 1 162 2014 1 2015 1 1— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 0 0 2015 — 2014 0 0 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 0 0 2015 0 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0 0— 2014 0 0 0 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0 0 0— 2014 0 2015 0 0— 2014 0 0 0 2015 0 0
European Championships Teams 1st–7th: 1 athlete
Rank Quota NOC Category Total56 62 69 77 85 94 105 +105 1 1 25+ 28+25 28+25 25 156 2 1 28+21 20 22+ 20 28 139 3 1 19+18 23 20 25+22 127 4 1 17 23 18 16 23+ 23 120 5 1 16 22 19 23 20+ 18 118 6 1 22+19 22+18 19+ 13 113 7 1 20 21 19 19+17 17 113 8 17 28+22 22+21 110 9 19 21 25 15 18 9 107 10 18 17 20+14 0 20+14 103 11 21 0 0 23 23+21 88 12 20 0 12 16+13 15+10 86 13 15 21 9 8 19+8 80 14 28 18 28 74 15 15+13 11+10 10+9 68 16 18 13 15 46 17 28 28 18 25 25 19 22 22 20 21 21 21 17 17 22 16 16 23 0 16 16 24 8 8 25 0 0 0
Asian Championships Teams 1st–7th: 1 athlete
Rank Quota NOC Category Total56 62 69 77 85 94 105 +105 1 1 28+25 22+21 28+ 25 149 2 1 23+ 22+ 25 25+22 23 140 3 1 28+18 19+ 19 28 23 135 4 1 14 20 22 28+25 25 134 5 1 20 23 25+22 23 21 134 6 1 21 18 23+ 20 28+20 130 7 1 21 23+17 23+ 21 21+ 126 8 22+19 19 19+ 21 22 122 9 25 20+ 14 16+ 16+15 106 10 28+17 15+10 15 17 102 11 16 11 16+13 15 18 89 12 0 18 19 37 13 12 0 21 33 14 28 28 15 9 0 14 23 16 22 22 17 12 12 18 0 0 0
African Championships Teams 1st–5th: 1 athlete
Rank Quota NOC Category Total56 62 69 77 85 94 105 +105 1 1 28 28+25 28+25 25 159 2 1 28+25 28+ 25 28+25 159 3 1 25 23 23+22 23+ 28 144 4 1 23 22 21 21 23 23 133 5 1 18 19 22+20 21 22 122 6 21+20 20 19 80 7 25 28 53 8 19 18 37 9 23 23 10 20 20
Oceania Championships Teams 1st–5th: 1 athlete
Rank Quota NOC Category Total56 62 69 77 85 94 105 +105 1 1 25 23 25 28+23 25+ 149 2 1 28+22 23+21 25+ 25 144 3 1 23 21 28 23+22 22+ 139 4 1 22 20 22 25 20 28 137 5 1 28+23 23 20+18 20 132 6 25 21+19 19 19+ 28 131 7 22 19 20 61 8 22 18 19 59 9 21+20 17 58 10 28 28 56 11 25 25 12 22 22 13 19 19 14 18 18 15 0 0
Pan American Championships Teams 1st–7th: 1 athlete
Rank Quota NOC Category Total56 62 69 77 85 94 105 +105 1 1 22 28 28+25 25 20+ 148 2 1 + 25 23 21 23 28+23 143 3 1 28 25 28 20 21+19 141 4 1 21 20 28 25+22 25 141 5 1 25 21+19 20+ 22 22 129 6 1 21+19 22 23+20 21+ 126 7 1 19+ 23+19 22+17 18 118 8 0 + 25 21 23 28 20 117 9 18+16 23 21 22+ 16 116 10 23 18 18+17 17+ 16 109 11 15 22 19 18 16+ 16 106 12 14 12+11 14 11+ 15 77 13 13 18 31 14 28+0 28 15 20 20 16 19 19 17 17 17 18 13 13
Women In the 2015 Qualification ranking, the IWF eliminated Bulgaria (BUL) from the ranking list and recalculated all scores accordingly, as if Bulgarian athletes had not been present at all. If the same changes are made to the 2014 ranking, point scores will change and ranking places may be altered.
World Championships Teams 1st–9th: 4 athletes Teams 10th–16th: 3 athletes Teams 17th–21st: 2 athletes