Olympic champion Rahimov charged in weightlifting doping case

Rahimov had served a two-year ban from 2013-15 in a doping case while competing for Azerbaijan and only returned to represent Kazakhstan a few months before the Olympics.

Published : Jan 19, 2021 16:14 IST

It is unclear if the allegations span the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics where Rahimov took gold with a world-record lift in the men’s 77-kilogram class.
It is unclear if the allegations span the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics where Rahimov took gold with a world-record lift in the men’s 77-kilogram class.
lightbox-info

It is unclear if the allegations span the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics where Rahimov took gold with a world-record lift in the men’s 77-kilogram class.

Olympic weightlifting champion Nijat Rahimov has been charged with swapping his urine samples in a doping case that could threaten his gold medal.

The International Testing Agency said late Monday it charged Rahimov and Dumitru Captari of Romania with “an anti-doping rule violation for ‘Urine Substitution’ which would have occurred over a period of time in 2016.”

It is unclear if the allegations span the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics where Rahimov took gold with a world-record lift in the men’s 77-kilogram class. Captari competed in the same event.

Rahimov’s performance was doubted even at the time in Rio.

READ  

He had served a two-year ban from 2013-15 in a doping case while competing for Azerbaijan and only returned to represent Kazakhstan a few months before the Olympics.

The bronze medalist in Rio, Mohamed Mahmoud of Egypt, said of his rival’s rapid improvement “in a very short time it cannot happen like that.”

The ITA said Rahimov and Captari are provisionally suspended while disciplinary cases are prosecuted.

Weightlifting’s widespread doping and corruption issues were exposed one year ago by German broadcaster ARD.

It led to the ousting of long-time International Weightlifting Federation President Tamas Aján, who also lost his honorary membership of the International Olympic Committee.

The ARD program filmed Thailand lifter Rattikan Gulnoi, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, talking about her doping with steroids.

READ:

Gulnoi has now been charged with a doping violation, the ITA said.

Amid fallout from the German broadcast, the IWF hired doping investigator Richard McLaren to examine the sport’s problems.

“The review of these 146 files discovered in the wake of the McLaren report is progressing and the ITA should be able to complete it and resolve the pending matters by spring 2021,” the Lausanne-based agency said.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment