The Growth of Women's Olympic Weightlifting in the United States

The first Olympic weightlifting contest was held in Athens in 1896. The first women’s weightlifting contest at an Olympic games was held over a thousand years later at Sydney in 2000. Focused on the United States, the purpose of this research is simple. It will be the first in depth historical study of women’s weightlifting. More specifically, this research will track the slow evolution of women’s weightlfiting in America from a fringe sport to an accepted Olympic event. A decision has been made to focus primarily on the United States owing to that country’s importance in global fitness, as well as the campaigning efforts made by several high profile American athletes to formalise women’s weightlifting. The applicant also has contacts with several private archives in the United States which will be used to assist in this research. In doing so, this research will pay particular attention to the relationship between individual athletes, national bodies and international sporting bodies in the evolution of women’s weightlifting. Studying roughly a century’s worth of women’s weightlifting in the United States, the research will argue that, in line with broader IOC policies, the formalisation of women’s weightlifting represented an ongoing Olympic effort to provide sporting opportunities for all. The research will thus examine the difficulties, and later successes, experienced by female weightlifters. In doing so, the research provides a unique insight into the intersection between sport, gender, and international organizations.