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The Top 12 Female Weightlifters of All Time
It won’t be difficult for you after reading this article on the 12 top female weightlifters of all time. Female weightlifting was not even included in the Olympics until the 2000 Sydney Olympics. As a result, the top female weightlifters stayed hidden from public view.
Several female weightlifters have proven this to be false.
The championships, as well as the number of viewers, have grown in recent years.
Nonetheless, it appears that the majority of the world is unaware of the greatest female weightlifters of all time.
Don’t be concerned. In this list, we will discuss aspects such as career records, career duration, Olympic medals, and other notable titles held by the 12 best female weightlifters.
The Top 12 Female Weightlifters of All Time
The list below includes the 12 best female weightlifters of all time from various categories, including both old and new athletes:
Rank | Country | Name |
1 | Canada | Maude Charron |
2 | Thailand | Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon |
3 | China | Liu Chunhong |
4 | Taiwan | Hsu Shu-Ching |
5 | Taiwan | Kuo Hsing-Chun |
6 | China | Chen Yanging |
7 | China | Wang Mingjuan |
8 | China | Zhou Lulu |
9 | China | Cao Li |
10 | South Korea | Jang Mi-ran |
11 | Canada | Christine Girard |
12 | Philippines | Hidilyn Diaz |
12. Hidilyn Diaz
Hidilyn Diaz, the Philippines’ first gold medalist, has demonstrated that there is no alternative to hard work.
She competed in the Olympics for the first time in 2008. Unfortunately, the first Olympic performance was dismal.
Diaz finished second last out of 12 competitors. Her performance at the following Olympics, though, was significantly better, as she finished eighth.
Finally, she earned a gold medal in the featherweight division at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Aside from that, she holds a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2015, 2017, and 2019.
Her determination demonstrates that anything is achievable if we commit to our objective and work hard.
Christine Girard, 11th
Christine Girard, the Olympic gold medalist in middleweight, was born in Canada.
However, the majority of female weightlifting athletes are from Asian countries. Christine is an outlier in this regard.
Christine’s Olympic gold tale is one of a kind.
She finished third in the Olympic Games in 2012.
However, in 2016, the gold and silver medalists from the 2012 Olympics were discovered to have used an illegal drug to boost their performance.
So, four years later, she received a gold medal.
However, she demonstrated her excellent performance in the Commonwealth Games by winning gold and silver medals.
The gold medallist from the 2011 Pan American Games, standing 5 feet 3 inches tall, sets a middleweight clean and jerk record.
Jang Mi-ran is ten
Jang Mi-ran of South Korea has earned Olympic and World Championship gold medals in weightlifting.
As a result, she is widely considered one of the greatest weightlifters of all time.
She competes in the 75+kg weight class.
From 2005 to 2009, Jang Mi-ran won four straight World Championship gold medals.
She also won Olympic gold in 2005 and 2008.
As a result, she is regarded as one of the top weightlifters of the late 2000s.
Similarly, she broke the world record for snatch with 140 Kg in 2008.
She then lifted 326 kg in the finals to earn the desired gold medal.
Similarly, Jang won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics.
In addition, she earned a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics.
She is currently retired and lives in South Korea, where she is well-known for her sheer strength and power.
9. Cao Li Cao Li
Cao Li Cao Li was a two-time World Champion and one of the most spectacular weightlifters in the late 2000s.
Weightlifting was something she did since she was a child.
At the age of 18, she transitioned from the national to the international circuit. At the age of 20, she won the Junior World Championship.
She competed in the 65 kg division at first, then the 69 kg category, and finally the 75 kg category.
Cao Li won the majority of her medals in the 75kg category but died at the age of 21.
In addition, the Chinese weightlifter won two gold medals in the East Asian Games and one gold medal in the Asian Games.
She had already earned an Olympic gold medal; however, her gold medal from the 2008 Olympics was annulled in 2017 owing to a doping violation.
8. Lulu Zhou
The addition of weightlifting in the Olympics spurred many women to pursue a career in weightlifting.
Zhou Lulu sat at home and watched the 2004 Olympics.
She became interested in weightlifting after observing female weightlifters.
Lulu earned a name for herself in the following years by winning multiple medals for her country.
Zhou Lulu, a Chinese heavyweight athlete, has won gold in both the Olympics and the World Championship.
She established the world record in her weight category in 2012, lifting 333 kg.
As a result, she won her first Olympic gold medal.
Similarly, she won the 75+ weight category at the 2011 World Championship and then silver at the 2013 World Championship.
Mingjuan Wang
China has produced numerous outstanding female weightlifters over the years.
Wang Mingjuan is one of China’s greatest weightlifters. Her career has been adorned with gold medals.
Aside from two gold medals at the Asian Games, she also holds a gold medal in the Olympics (2012) and four gold medals at the World Weightlifting Championship.
Wang won her first gold medal at the World Championships in 2002.
Similarly, she last won a gold medal in the Olympics in 2012.
Throughout her career, she constantly managed to stay healthy and win trophies.
She competes in the flyweight division, which weighs roughly 48 kilograms.
Wang Mingjuan has also set a number of records over her career.
Chen Yanging is number six
Chen Yanging achieved a record by winning two consecutive gold medals at the Olympics.
She won gold in the lightweight division in 2004 and 2008.
Previously, no female weightlifter had won two gold medals in a row.
During her early years, she was recognized as one of the best young weightlifters.
Chen was the winner of two Junior World Championships. She was definitely promising from the start.
Unfortunately, she was not chosen for the Olympics in 2000.
As a result, her performance plummeted, and she failed to win the national championship.
She stopped weightlifting a year later and resumed her everyday life.
Fortunately, her coach approached her in 2004 and convinced her to continue training.
She worked even harder than before, and she went on to make history.
Chen is currently recognized as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time.
Her success inspired many Chinese females to pursue a career in weightlifting.
Hsing-Chun Kuo
One of the best weightlifters today is the current Olympic champion in the 59 kg category.
She had an amazing career, having won five Asian Games gold medals, four World Championship golds, and two Universiade golds.
Her quest is all the more amazing because she is a member of Taiwan’s indigenous tribe.
Hsing-family Chun was impoverished.
Her grandmother watched after her while her mother worked to provide for her.
Kuo was an active student in her school.
The Olympian was involved in a variety of sports during her scholastic years.
Finally, in high school, she decided to concentrate on weightlifting.
In her career, she has set 11 world records.
Kuo is also the current World Champion in the 59 kg weight class.
four. Hsu Shu-Ching
In her adolescence, this Taiwanese athlete shifted from basketball to weightlifting.
It proved to be a masterstroke, as she went on to win two Olympic gold medals, as well as World Championship and Asian Games titles.
Hsu Schu-Ching was favored by luck because her coach had already won a bronze medal in the World Championship.
Her performance improved significantly as a result of this.
She also won two gold medals in a row in 2012 and 2016.
Hsu earned gold in 2012 when the previous winner, Zulfiya, failed an anti-doping test.
Throughout her career, she also set various records.
She has also won gold at the Asian Games and the Asian Championship.
She opted to withdraw from her profession in 2018, claiming injuries as the primary cause.
Liu Chunhong is number three.
The majority of female weightlifters are Chinese.
Many Chinese athletes went on to dominate the world stage of weightlifting in the 2000s.
Liu Chunhong is a weightlifter from China who has won gold medals in the Olympic, World Championship, and Asian Games.
However, her Olympic medal from 2008 was stripped because she broke doping standards.
As a result, she received a lot of criticism from the Chinese people.
Her Olympic medal from 2004 remains genuine, however.
During her final year, she set numerous records.
Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon No. 2
Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon, also known as Prapawadee J., is another Thai Olympian on our list.
She has also won a bronze medal at the World Championships and a silver medal at the Asian Games.
She made her international debut in 2005 when she took bronze in the World Championship.
Unfortunately, she became more vulnerable to harm as a result of that.
Fortunately, the injury was only a slight setback in her career, as she went on to win an Olympic Gold medal after recovering.
She is one of Thailand’s most prolific weightlifters, with a personal best of 29 kg snatch (2005) and 126 kg clean and jerk (2009)
Also, read Debra Lynn Godfrey, Jasprit Bumrah, Antonio McDyess
1. Charron, Maude
Maude Charron is the best female weightlifter of all time, and we saved her for last.
Charron is currently the world champion in the 64 kg weight class.
Charron is Canada’s second female gold medalist in weightlifting.
She also broke the record for the most weight lifted by a Canadian in the 64 kilos category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Maude has also won gold at the Pan American and Commonwealth Games.
She has also won a silver medal at the World Championship.
She is regarded as one of the top weightlifters in the world right now.
Her recent Olympic and Pan American Championship victories have increased her fame and legacy.