Barbells

Olympic weightlifting uses a steel bar (also known as a barbell) with rotating sleeves on either end, holding rubber coated discs of different weights. This sleeve rotation is important for the Olympic lifts, particularly the snatch and clean movements, because it drastically reduces the rotational inertia of the plates. Without sleeve rotation, the Olympic lifter faces more challenging lifts and a greater risk of injury.

A mens Olympic barbell weights 20kg (44lbs) with a shaft diameter of 28mm and a length of 2200mm, whereas a womens Olympic barbell weights 15kg (33lbs) and has a shaft diameter of 25mm with a length of 2100mm.This distance between the sleeves, however, remains the same for the mens and the womens bars at 1310mm. The grip texture of this bar section is called the knurling, and is distributed differently between the mens and womens bars: the mens has knurling in the centre but the womens does not. The Olympic barbells used in competition are certified by the IWF.