Briken Calja (born 19 February 1990,

Elbasan Elbasan ( ; sq-definite, Elbasani ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central ...

) is an

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

, Olympian, and European Champion competing in the 69 kg category until 2018 and 73 kg starting in 2018 after the

International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...

reorganized the categories. He won the silver medal in the men's 73 kg event at the

2021 World Weightlifting Championships The 2021 World Weightlifting Championships was a weightlifting competition held from 7 to 17 December in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Due to concerns about the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron variant and held shortly after 2020 Summer ...

held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Career

Calja competed for Albania at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where he finished 9th in his weight class after lifting a total weight of 320 kg. In 2013 Calja was suspended for two years for using

androsterone Androsterone, or 3α-hydroxy-5α-androstan-17-one, is an endogenous steroid hormone, neurosteroid, and putative pheromone. It is a weak androgen with a potency that is approximately 1/7 that of testosterone. Androsterone is a metabolite of test ...

. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in 69kg division where he finished in 5th place after lifting 326 kg. In 2018 Calja became European champion in the 2018 European Weightlifting Championships in Bucharest.

Major results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calja, Briken Albanian male weightlifters Weightlifters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic weightlifters of Albania 1990 births Living people Doping cases in weightlifting Albanian sportspeople in doping cases People from Elbasan Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Albania Mediterranean Games medalists in weightlifting Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games European Weightlifting Championships medalists Weightlifters at the 2020 Summer Olympics European champions for Albania World Weightlifting Championships medalists 20th-century Albanian people 21st-century Albanian people