SWITZERLAND, MAR 29,
The IOC disqualified three athletes, including a bronze medalist weightlifter from Azerbaijan, on Friday for doping at the 2012 London Olympics.
Valentin Hristov was stripped of his third-place finish in the 56-kilogram class. His positive test for oral turinabol, the anabolic steroid linked to East Germany’s doping program in the 1970s and ‘80s, had been announced in December.
The Bulgaria-born lifter, who turns 35 on Saturday, is already serving an eight-year ban until December 2023 for a positive test for nandrolone at the 2015 world championships in Houston. Hristov was also caught doping at the 2013 European Championships.
The bronze medal could now be allocated by the International Olympic Committee to fourth-place finisher Tran Le Quoc Toan of Vietnam.
Two athletes from Belarus also tested positive for anabolic steroids in reanalysis of their London samples, the IOC said. Men’s 800-meter runner Anis Ananenka and women’s hammer thrower Alena Matoshka both failed to reach the final of their events.
More than 100 athletes, including dozens of medalists, have been caught in reanalysis of samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics using a more sensitive test for steroids.
Most cases involved athletes from former Soviet republics, and at least six were from Azerbaijan’s weightlifting team.
The IOC said retests will continue until the statute of limitations applied to the 2012 Olympics is reached next year.
Weightlifting was put under review by the IOC in 2017 after having at least 50 positive tests combined from the Beijing and London reanalysis.
This week, the Olympic body’s executive board lifted a threat to remove weightlifting from the 2024 Paris Games after accepting reforms in the sport.
