I love the Olympics and my favorite sport to watch is the weighlifting.  
Olympic weightlifting, is an athletic discipline in the modern Olympic programme in which the athlete attempts a maximum-weight single lift of
Watching those athletes is very awe inspiring.  How long has weighlifting been an Olympic sport?
Not sure of the actual dating! We also have the Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: 
I have seen that!  It makes me sore just to watch.  Are there any well known Olympic lifters I should be aware of?
 Mark Jerrold Henry is an American powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and professional wrestler, 
Sounds like a guy I would not want to get into a bar fight with!  Has he won any gold medals?
He was a two-time Olympian in 1992 and 1996 and a gold, silver, and bronze medalist at the Pan American Games 
He seems pretty accomplished.  I wonder if weighlifting like that can cause any long term problems down the road
without lifting aids), weightlifting tests aspects of human ballistic limits (explosive strength); the lifts are therefore executed faster—and with more mobility and a greater range of motion during their execution—than other strength movements.
The lifts performed in the sport of weightlifting, and in particular their component lifts (e.g. squats, deadlifts, cleans), are commonly used by elite athletes in other sports to train for both explosive and functional strength.
Competition.
The sport is controlled by the International Weightlifting Federation (
Olympic weightlifting
Olympic-style weightlifting, or Olympic weightlifting, often simply referred to as weightlifting, is an athletic discipline in the modern Olympic program in which the athlete attempts a maximum-weight single lift of a barbell loaded with weight plates.
The two competition lifts in order are the snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch is a wide-grip, one-move lift. The clean and jerk is a close-grip, two-move lift. Each weightlifter receives three attempts in each, and