THREE Olympic champion weightlifters from China and eight other medalists stand to be stripped of their titles after failing retests of their doping samples from the 2008 Olympics.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) says the 11 tested positive for a range of banned substances. They are all provisionally suspended until the doping cases are resolved.
The IWF said yesterday that Chinese gold medalists Cao Lei, Liu Chunhong and Chen Xiexia all tested positive for GHRP-2, which stimulates growth hormone production, while Liu also tested positive for the stimulant sibutramine.
The other eight medalists include current world record holder Andrei Rybakou of Belarus, who won silver in 2008. All tested positive for various anabolic steroids, according to the IWF.
The other medalists are Anastasia Novikova of Belarus, Kazakhstan’s Maria Grabovetskaya and Irina Nekrasova, Russia’s Khadzhimurat Akkaev and Dmitry Lapikov, and Ukraine’s Natalya Davydova and Olha Korobka.(SD-Agencies)
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