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Heavy Metal

Women, Weightlifting and the Fight for the Olympics

Heavy Metal cover

Heavy Metal

Women, Weightlifting and the Fight for the Olympics

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Pre-order. Available 08 Jul 2027
$28.79 RRP $35.99 Website price saving $7.20 (20%)

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Description

For more than a century, weightlifting was one of the last Olympic sports closed to women – but they refused to stay out.

Heavy Metal tells the gripping true story of how women fought their way into elite strength sport, transforming garages, basements and local gyms into training grounds for a global movement. From circus strongwomen and mid-century fitness pioneers to the athletes and organisers who staged the first competitions, this is a story of persistence against medical warnings, cultural stigma and institutional resistance.

Drawing on rare archives and first-hand interviews, Conor Heffernan reveals how grassroots activism forced the International Weightlifting Federation and the International Olympic Committee to finally recognise women's lifting. Along the way, the book explores bigger questions about gender, power and the body – from Cold War politics and doping scandals to debates about femininity and fairness that still resonate today.

Fast-paced, surprising and deeply human, Heavy Metal is essential reading for anyone interested in the hidden histories of sport and the women who changed it forever.

Accessibility Information

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  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

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Table of Contents

Abstract A
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Introduction
1. The First Weightlifters
2. From Strongwomen to Strong Women
3. From the Margins to the Mainstream
4. The Eyes of the World Are on Weightlifting
5. Gaining Olympic Acceptance
6. Women's Weightlifting at the Olympics
Conclusion
Appendix A: List of Interviews
Appendix B: A Brief Chronology of Women's Weightlifting
Bibliography

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 08 Jul 2027
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 264
ISBN 9781350674257
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 15 bw illus
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Conor Heffernan

Conor Heffernan is Lecturer in the Sociology of Sp…

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