Weightlifting is a sport of strength. The athlete competes in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead to lift the heaviest weights successfully.
While explosive strength is required to play the sport, it also tests the athletes’ techniques, mobility, and speed. There are different weight classes for Weightlifting.
Weightlifting is also one of the most dangerous sports in the world. You can easily get injured if you miss or use the wrong technique. Therefore, the weightlifters have to go through rigorous training and need sheer dedication to play the sport.
So, today we are looking at some of the best junior weightlifting champions dedicated to the sport. Their performance is the proof of their skills and abilities.
Let us dive into our list without any further ado!
Top 10 Best Junior Weightlifting Champions
We have taken TheMoney as our primary source for our article. But before we get into the details, let us look at the rankings of our list first.
| Athlete Name | Country |
| 10. Thach Kim Tuan | Vietnam |
| 9. Wu Wenxiong | China |
| 8. Shi Zhiyong | China |
| 7. Yang Fan | China |
| 6. Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan | Armenia |
| 5. Liao Hui | China |
| 4. Ilya Alexandrovich Ilyin | Kazakhstan |
| 3. Kolecki Szymon | Poland |
| 2. Aramnau Andrei | Belarus |
| 1. Ali Hosseini Said | Iran |
10. Thach Kim Tuan
We are starting our list of the best junior weightlifting champions with 30 years-old Thach Kim Tuan. The Vietnam Athletes Association dubbed the young athlete “young hope.”
Tuan was given the name for Weightlifting at the 2012 Summer Olympics in Men’s 56 kg weight class. However, he failed to qualify for the big event. The following year, he won a silver medal at the Asian Championships.
Similarly, Tuan’s other notable win was at the 2011 World Junior Championships, where he won a silver and two bronze medals, and gold at the 2011 Youth Asian Championships and 2012 Junior Asian Championships.
9. Wu Wenxiong
On number 9 of the best junior weightlifting champion, we have 30 years-old retired weightlifter Wu Wenxiong. The athlete competed in the 56 kg weight class.
Wenxiong won gold at the 2001 East Asian Games. Similarly, he won silver medals at the 2000 Olympic Games held in Sydney and the Asian Championships held in his home country. He ranked fifth at the 1999 World Championships.
8. Shi Zhiyong
Born as Shi Lei, we have Shi Zhiyong on number 8 of the best junior weightlifting champions. The 31 year-old was given the new name by his coach Zhan Xugang after the former Olympic Champion.
Zhiyong competes in the 73 kg weight class. Until 2018, he used to compete in the 69 kg weight class category and won Olympic Championship two times, the World Championship three times, and Asian Championships four times.
In 2018, the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories, and Zhiyong began competing in 73 kg. In the 2020 Summer Olympics, he competes in the 73 kg category.
Zhiyoung has set 13 world records and currently holds the world records in the – 73 kg class for the snatch, clean, jerk, and total.
7. Yang Fan
37 years-old Yang Fan is a former weightlifter and ranks number 7 on our list of the best junior weightlifting champions. He competed in the 62 kg weight class division.
Yang was a gold medal winner in the 2007 World Championship and a bronze medal in the 2009 World Championship.
6. Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan
Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan is a 36 years-old weightlifter. He enjoyed a successful youth career after winning a 2003 European Vice-Champion and a 2004 European Champion.
The same year in 2004, Tigran won a gold medal at the 2005 European Championships among juniors. Similarly, he also won a gold medal at the 2008 European Weightlifting Championships in Lignano.
In 2009, Tigran was awarded the Honored Master of Sports of Armenia title. He was temporarily acknowledged as the youngest Olympic medalist from Armenia before being stripped of the medal for doping violations.
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5. Liao Hui
On number 5 of the best junior weightlifting champions, we have Liao Hui. He is a 37 years-old former Chinese weightlifter.
Hui’s first notable win was in 2007, when he broke two junior world records and won gold in the 69 kg weight class at the 6th Chinese City Games. Similarly, he won the gold medal in the same category at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships, Hui won the championship but was disqualified for performance-enhancing drug use the following year. He was an Olympic and three-time world champion in his weightlifting career.
Hui also held all three world records in the 69 kg class before the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
4. Ilya Alexandrovich Ilyin
Our fourth-best junior weightlifting champion is Ilya Alexandrovich Ilyin. He is a 36 years-old retired player and was Kazakhstan’s first junior and senior weightlifting world champion.
Ilyin achieved the feat at the 2005 World Weightlifting Championships in the 85 kg class division. His total of 386 kg at the championship was the youth world record.
He was named IWF World Weightlifter of the Year in 2005, 2006, 2014, and 2015. Similarly, in 2015, he set two world records in the 105 kg class division.
Ilyin was a two-time Olympic gold medalist in 2008 and 2012. However, he was stripped of his gold medals in 2016 after the doping violations. During his professional career, he won four world championships.
3. Kolecki Szymon
On number 3, we have 43 years-old former Olympic weightlifter and current mixed martial artist Kolecki Szymon. He competed in the 94 kg weight class category.
In 2000, Szymon entered the Olympic Games as a junior. He finished in third place after the snatch portion of the competition and won the silver medal. In 2004, he failed a drug test and could not participate in the Olympic Games.
Szymon returned to the 2008 Olympic Games and was the gold medal winner. After retiring from Weightlifting, he turned into mixed martial arts.
2. Aramnau Andrei
Aramnau Andrei is our second-best junior weightlifting champion. He is a 36 years-old weightlifter who is an Olympic and World Champion.
Andrei had six fingers on one hand when she was born. However, his coach made him remove the sixth finger before allowing him to train in the European Championships in 2002. In 2006, he won silver at the Junior World Championships in the 94 kg category.
Similarly, Andrei also won the 2007 World Championships in the 105 kg category and also registered another gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the same category.
During the 2008 Summer Olympics, Andrei made a world record in the snatch with 200 kg, in clean and jerk with 236 kg, and a total of 436 kg. However, the record was nullified after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the category.
1. Saeid Alihosseini
The number 1 best junior weightlifting champions spot goes to the 36 years-old former super heavyweight weightlifter, Saeid Alihosseini. He participated n the 105 kg weight class category.
Alihosseini holds the junior world record in the 105 kg category. However, his weightlifting career was marred by controversy. In 2006 and 2009, he failed two doping tests and was initially banned for a lifetime.
However, upon appeal, his ban was reduced to 12 years and later to 8 years. In 2017, Alihosseini was eligible to return to the international competition. He competed in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships and won a silver medal.
Alihosseini announced his retirement from the sport in November 2019.
Conclusion
So this concludes our list of the best junior weightlifting champions. While best is a subjective topic, these athletes have nonetheless possess all the skills and techniques required for the weightlifters.
Which weightlifter do you think is the best in the sport? Do you know of any other junior weightlifter you might want to add to our list? Do let us know!
