Russian national weightlifting team suspended from competitions for a year due to anti-doping violations
The Executive Committee of the International Weightlifting Organization (IWF) decided to prohibit the Russian national weightlifting team from participating in all international competitions for a year. The announcement was made on Saturday, September 30, on the organization's website.
In addition to the Russian national team, the teams of eight more countries will not be able to participate in the tournaments. The reason for this was the numerous violations of the anti-doping rules at the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012.
"The International Weightlifting Federation Executive Board today unanimously decided that Member Federations (MFs) found to have produced three or more Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRV) in the combined re-analysis process of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games shall be suspended for one year. The MFs which have been identified as such are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine," the report said.
"There is no doubt that the IWF Anti-Doping Program has advanced enormously since Beijing 2008 and London 2012. The culture of the sport has already changed in many places over the last ten years but we are committed to doing more and we will do more. Through our Clean Sport Commission we are not just looking at how we overcome current issues but how we can innovate with new testing and anti-doping measures for the benefit of all sports." IWF President Tamas Ajan said.
The suspended teams will miss the World Weightlifting Championship that will be held from November 28 to December 5 in the city of Anaheim, USA. The decision made by the IWF will come into force in mid-October.